THE  COLPORTAGE  LIBRARY,  vol .  No.  2«.  April 

$2.25  per  anncni.  Ratered  at  Chicago  Poa i-ojfice  as  second-class  » 


The  Bible  Institute 
Coipoitage  /\ssociation, 
Chicago;' 


1 


'SOWING  AND  REAPING 


Return  this  book  on  or  before  the 


BY 

D.  L.  MOODY. 


“  Whatsoever  a  man  sowetk,  that  shall  he  also  reap.'" 

Gal.  vi:  7. 


Chicago: 

Thh  B^ble  Institute  Colportage  Association, 

250  La  Salle  Avenue 

Eastern  Depot:  Canadian  Depot: 

East  Northfield,  Mass.  140  Yonge  St.,  Toronto. 


I 


Copyrighted  i8g6  by  ' 
Fleming  H.  Revell  Company, 


The  Bible  Institute  Colportage  Association 

Was  founded  for  the  purpose  of  issuing  good  sound  Christian 
literature  at  low  prices.  The  work  is  purely  undenominational  in 
its  character,  and  the  sympathy  and  co-operation  of  all  Christians 
is  invited  to  help  along  the  work  of  counteracting  the  influence  of 
the  vicious  literature  now  being  so  widely  circulated. 

Send  stamped  envelope  for  pamphlets  regarding  the  work  of 
the  Association,  and  for  complete  catalogues,  which  include  books 
on  many  topics, — all  helpful  and  all  at  specially  reduced  prices. 

Special  terms  to  Colporters  and  for  free  distribution.  Col- 
porters  and  canvassers  wanted  in  every  cummunity.  Liberal 
terms.  Address, 

A.  P.  FITT,  SUPT. 

The  Bible  Institute  Colportage  Association, 

THeadquarters:  250  La  Salle  Ave.,  Chioago 
J  Eastern  Depot:  East  Northfield,  Mass. 

1  Canadian  Depot:  142  Yonge  St.,  Toronto 
[new  York  Depot:  112  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York 


This  book  is  entered  as  second-class  matter  at  the  Chicago 
Postoffice,  and  is  mailable  at  the  rate  of  one  cent  for  four 
ounces.  It  weighs,  including  wrapper,  about  six  ounces,  and 
for  2  cents  postage  can  be  mailed  to  any  part  of  the  United 
States,  Mexico,  or  Canada,  but  the  person  so  mailing  it  must 
mark  on  the  wrapper  the  word  *^Magazin^V  or  “second  class 
matter.’’ 


(V\11  1  S. 


CONTENTS. 


Chap. 

I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 
VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 


Sowing  and  Reaping . 

Be  Not  Deceived:  God  Is  Not  Mocked . 

When  a  Man  Sows,  He  Expects  to  Reap . 

A  Man  Reaps  the  Same  Kind  as  He  Sows . 

A  Man  Reaps  More  than  He  Sows . 

Ignorance  of  the  Seed  Makes  No  Difference.  . 

Forgiveness  and  Retribution . 

Warning . 


Page. 

..  9 


25 


39^ 

57 


••  79 

..  91 

•  •  105 


r 


577861 


SOWING  AND  REAPING. 


“  What  Shall  the  Harvest  Be  ?  ’* 


Sowing  the  seed  by  the  daylight  fair, 

Sowing  the  seed  by  the  noonday  glare, 

Sowing  the  seed  by  the  fading  light, 

Sowing  the  seed  in  the  solemn  night; 

Oh,  what  shall  the  harvest  be? 

Sowing  the  seed  by  the  wayside  high. 

Sowing  the  seed  on  the  rocks  to  die. 

Sowing  the  seed  where  the  thorns  will  spoil, 

Sowing  the  seed  in  the  fertile  soil: 

Oh,  what  shall  the  harvest  be? 

Sowing  the  seed  of  a  lingering  pain. 

Sowing  the  seed  of  a  maddened  brain, 

Sowing  the  seed  of  a  tarnished  name, 

Sowing  the  seed  of  eternal  shame: 

Oh,  what  shall  the  harvest  be? 

Sowing  the  seed  with  an  aching  heart. 

Sowing  the  seed  while  the  teardrops  start. 

Sowing  in  hope  till  the  reapers  come. 

Gladly  to  gather  the  harvest  home: 

Oh,  what  shall  the  harvest  be? 

Sown  in  the  darkness,  or  sown  in  the  light, 
Sown  in  our  weakness  or  sown  in  our  might. 
Gathered  in  time  or  eternity. 

Sure,  ah,  sure,  will  the  harvest  be. 


SOWING  AND  REAPING. 


CHAPTER  I. 

“  Be  not  deceived;  God  is  not  mocked:  for  whatsoever  a  man 
soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap.  For  he  that  soweth  to  his  flesh 
shall  of  the  flesh  reap  corruption;  but  he  that  soweth  to  the 
Spirit  shall  of  the  Spirit  reap  life  everlasting.”  Galatians  vi: 

7,  8. 

I  think  this  passage  contains  truths  that  no  infidel 
or  sceptic  will  dare  to  deny.  There  are  some  pass¬ 
ages  in  the  Word  of  *God  that  need  no  other  proof 
than  that  which  we  can  easily  find  in  our  daily  experi¬ 
ence.  This  is  one  of  them.  If  the  Bible  were  to  be 
blotted  out  of  existence,  the  words  I  have  quoted 
would  be  abundantly  verified  by  what  is  constantly 
happening  around  us.  We  have  only  to  take  up  the 
daily  papers  to  see  them  being  fulfilled  before  our  eyes. 

I  remember  giving  out  this  text  once  when  a  man 
stood  right  up  in  the  audience  and  said: 

“  I  don’t  believe  it.” 

I  said,  “  My  friend,  that  doesn’t  change  the  fact. 
Truth  is  truth  whether  you  believe  it  or  not,  and  a  lie 
is  a  lie  whether  you  believe  it  or  not.” 

He  didn’t  want  to  believe  it.  When  the  meeting 
broke  up,  an  officer  was  at  the  door  to  arrest  him. 


10 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


( 


He  was  tried  and  sent  to  the  penitentiary  for  twelve 
months  for  stealing.  I  really  believe  that  when  he 
got  into  his  cell,  he  believed  that  he  had  to  reap  what 
he  sowed. 

We  might  as  well  try  to  blot  the  sun  out  of  the 
heavens  as  to  blot  this  truth  out  of  the  Word  of  God. 
It  is  heaven’s  eternal  decree.  The  law  has  been  en¬ 
forced  for  six  thousand  years.  Did  not  God  make 
Adam  reap  even  before  he  left  Eden  }  Had  not  Cain 
to  reap  outside  of  Eden  ?  A  king  on  the  throne,  like 
David,  or  a  priest  behind  the  altar,  like  Eli;  priest  and 
prophet,  preacher  and  hearer,  every  man  must  reap 
what  he  sows.  I  believed  it  ten  years  ago,  but  I  be¬ 
lieve  it  a  hundred  times  more  to-day. 

My  text  applies  to  the  individual,  whether  he  be 
saint  or  sinner  or  hypocrite  who  thinks  he  is  a  saint; 
it  applies  to  the  family;  it  applies  to  society;  it  applies 
to  nations.  I  say  the  law  that  the  result  of  actions 
must  be  reaped  is  as  true  for  nations  as  for  individ¬ 
uals ;  some  one  has  said  that  as  nations  have 

no  future  existence,  the  present  world  is  the  only  place 
to  punish  them  as  nations.  See  how  God  has  dealt 
with  them.  See  if  they  have  not  reaped  what  they 
sowed.  Take  Amalek:  “  Remember  what  Amalek  did 
unto  thee  by  the  way,  when  ye  were  come  forth  out  of 
Egypt;  how  he  met  thee  by  the  way,  and  smote  the 
hindmost  of  thee,  even  all  that  were  feeble  behind 
thee,  when  thou  wast  faint  and  weary;  and  he  feared 
not  God.”  What  was  to  be  the  result  of  this  attack  ? 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


11 


Was  it  to  go  unpunished  ?  God  ordained  that  Amalek 
should  reap  as  they  sowed,  and  the  nation  was  all  but 
wiped  out  of  existence  under  King  Saul. 

What  has  become  of  the  monarchies  and  empires 
of  the  world  }  What  brought  ruin  on  Babylon  }  Her 
king  and  people  would  not  obey  God,  and  ruin  came 
upon  them.  What  has  become  of  Greece  and  all 
her  power  She  once  ruled  the  world.  What  has 
become  of  Rome  and  all  her  greatness  ?  When  their 
cup  of  iniquity  was  full,  it  was  dashed  to  the  ground. 
What  has  become  of  the  Jews.?  They  rejected  sal¬ 
vation,  persecuted  God’s  messengers,  and  crucified 
their  Redeemer ;  and  we  find  that  eleven  hundred 
thousand  of  them  perished  at  one  time.  Look  at  the 
history  of  this  country.  With  an  open  Bible,  our  fore¬ 
fathers  planted  slavery ;  but  judgment  came  at  last. 
There  was  not  a  family  North  or  South  that  had  not 
to  mourn  over  some  one  taken  from  them.  Take  the^ 
case  of  France.  It  is  said  that  a  century  ago  men 
were  spending  millions  every  year  in  France  in  the 
publication  and  distribution  of  infidel  literature.  What 
has  been  the  harvest .?  Has  France  not  reaped  .?  Mark 
the  result:  “  The  Bible  was  suppressed.  God  was 
denied.  Hell  broke  loose.  Half  the  children  born  in 
Paris  were  bastards.  More  than  a  million  of  persons 
were  beheaded,  shot,  drowned,  outraged,  and  done  to 
death  between  September,  1792,  and  December,  1795. 
Since  that  time  France  has  had  thirteen  revolutions 

i 

in  eighty  years  ;  and  in  the  republic  there  has  been  ai^/ 


12 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


overturn  on  an  average  once  in  nine  months.  One- 
third  of  the  births  in  Paris  are  illegitimate;  ten  thou¬ 
sand  new-born  infants  have  been  fished  out  at  the  out¬ 
let  of  the  city  sewers  in  a  single  year  ;  the  native  pop¬ 
ulation  of  France  is  decreasing  ;  the  percentap  of 
suicides  is  greater  in  Paris  than  in  any  city  in  Christen¬ 
dom  ;  and  since  the  French  Revolution  there  have 
been'  enough  French  men  and  women  slaughtered  in 
the  streets  of  Paris  in  the  various  insurrections,  to 
average  more  than  two  thousand  five  hundred  each 

year!”  . 

The  principle  was  not  new  in  Scripture  or.  in  history 

when  Paul  enunciated  it  in  his  letter  to  the  Galatians. 
Paul  clothes  it  in  language  derived  from  the  farm, 
but  in  other  dress  the  Law  of  Sowing  and  Reaping 
may  be  seen  in  the  Law  of  Cause  and  Effect,  the  Law 
of  Retribution  or  Retaliation,  the  Law  of  Compensa¬ 
tion.  It  is  not  to  my  purpose  to  enter  now  into  a 
philosophical  discussion  of  the  law  as  it  appears 
under  any  of  these  names.  We  see  that  it  exists.  It 
is  beyond  reasonable  dispute.  Whatever  else  sceptics 
may  carp  at  and  criticise  in  the  Bible,  they  must  ac¬ 
knowledge  the  truth  of  this.  It  does  not  depend 
upon  revelation  for  its  support;  philosophers  are 
agreed  upon  it  as  much  as  they  are  agreed  upon  any¬ 
thing. 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


13 


The  Supremacy  of  Law. 

The  objection  may  be  made,  however,  that  while 
its  application  may  be  admitted  in  the  physical  world, 
it  is  not  so  certain  in  the  spiritual  sphere.  It  is  just 
here  that  modern  research  steps  in.  The  laws  of  the 
spiritual  world  have  been  largely  identified  as  the  same 
laws  that  exist  in  the  natural  world.  Indeed,  it  is 
claimed  that  the  spiritual  existed  first,  that  the  natural 
came  after,  and  that  when  God  proceeded  to  frame 
the  universe.  He  went  upon  lines  already  laid  down. 
In  short,  that  God  projected  the  higher  laws  down¬ 
ward,  so  that  the  natural  world  became  “  an  incarna¬ 
tion,  a  visible  representation,  a  working  model  of  the 
supernatural.”  “  In  the  spiritual  world  the  same 
wheels  work — without  the  iron.” 

Our  whole  life  is  thus  bounded  and  governed  by 
laws  ordained  and  established  by  God,  and  that  a  man 
reaps  what  he  sows  is  a  law  that  can  be  easily  ob¬ 
served  and  verified,  whether  we  regard  sowing  to  the 
flesh  or  sowing  to  the  Spirit.  The  evil  harvest  of  sin 
and  the  good  harvest  of  righteousness  are  as  sure  to 
follow  the  sowing  as  the  harvest  of  wheat  and  barley. 
“  Life  is  not  casual ^  but  causal.'' 

We  shall  see,  as  we  proceed,  that  the  zvorking  of 
the  law  is  evident  in  the  earliest  periods  of-  Bible  his¬ 
tory.  Job’s  three  friends  reasoned  that  he  must  be  a 
great  sinner,  because  they  took  it  for  granted  that  the 


14 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


calamities  that  overtook  him  must  be  the  results  of 
his  wickedness.  “  Remember,  I  pray  thee,”  said  one  of 
them,  “  who  ever  perished,  being  innocent  ?  or  where 
were  the  righteous  cut  off  ?  Even  as  I  have  seen, 
they  that  plough  iniquity,  and  sow  wickedness,  reap 
the  same.” 

In  the  book  of  Proverbs  we  find  it  written  :  “  The 
wicked  worketh  a  deceitful  work  :  but  to  him  that 
soweth  righteousness  shall  be  a  sure  reward.”  And 
again  :  “  He  that  soweth  iniquity  shall  reap  vanity.” 

In  Isaiah  we  find  these  words  :  “  Say  ye  to  the 

righteous  that  it  shall  be  well  with  him  ;  for  they  shall 
eat  the  fruit  of  their  doings.  Woe  unto  the  wicked  ! 
it  shall  be  ill  with  him  :  for  the  reward  of  his  hands 
shall  be  given  him.” 

Hosea  prophesied  regarding  Israel:  “  They  have  sown 
the  wind,  and  they  shall  reap  the  whirlwind.”  “  Sow 
to  yourselves  in  righteousness,”  he  advised  them, 
**  reap  in  mercy.” 

Teaching  from  Analogy. 

The  Bible  is  full  of  analogies  drawn  from  nature. 
When  Christ  was  on  earth,  it  was  His  favorite  mode 
of  teaching  to  convey  heavenly  truths  in  earthly  dress. 
“  Truths  came  forth  from  His  lips,”  wrote  one,  “  not 
stated  simply  on  authority,  but  based  on  the  analogy 
of  the  universe.  His  human  mind,  in  perfect  har¬ 
mony  with  the  Divine  mind  with  which  it  was  united, 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


15 


discerned  the  connection  of  things,  and  read  the  eter¬ 
nal  will  in  the  simplest  laws  of  nature.  For  instance, 
if  it  were  a  question  whether  God  would  give  His 
Spirit  to  them  that  asked,  it  was  not  replied  to  by  a 
truth  revealed  on  His  authority  :  the  answer  was  de¬ 
rived  from  facts  lying  open  to  all  men’s  observation. 
‘  Behold  the  fowls  of  the  air  ’  ;  ‘  behold  the  lilies  of 
the  field’ — learn  from  them  the  answer  to  your  ques¬ 
tion.  A  principle  was  there.  God  supplies  the  wants 
He  has  created.  He  feeds  the  ravens — He  clothes  the 
lilies — He  will  feed  with  His  Spirit  the  craving  spirits 
of  His  children.” 

This  is  the  style  of  teaching  that  Paul  adopts  in  the 
text.  He  takes  the  simple  process  of  sowing  and 
reaping,  a  process  familiar  to  all,  and  reads  in  it  a 
deeply  spiritual  and  moral  meaning.  It  is  as  if  he 
said  that  every  man  as  he  journeys  through  life  is 
scattering  seed  at  every  step.  The  seed  consists  of 
his  thoughts,  his  words,  his  actions.  They  pass  from 
him,  and  by  and  by  (it  may  be  sooner  or  later),  they 
spring  up  and  bear  fruit,  and  the  reaping  time  comes. 

Life  a  Seed-Time. 

The  analogy  contains  some  solemn  lessons.  Life  is 
to  be  regarded  as  a  seed-time.  Every  one  has  his 
field  to  sow,  to  cultivate,  and  finally,  to  reap.  By  our 
habits,  by  our  intercourse  with  friends  and  compan¬ 
ions,  by  exposing  ourselves  to  good  or  bad  influences, 

. « 


16 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


we  are  cultivating  the  seed  for  the  coming  harvest. 
We  cannot  see  the  seed  as  it  grows  and  develops, 
but  time  will  reveal  it. 

Just  as  the  full-grown  harvest  is  potentially  con¬ 
tained  in  the  seed,  so  the  full  results  of  sin  or  holiness 
are  potentially  contained  in  the  sinful  or  holy  deed. 
“  When  lust  hath  conceived,  it  bringeth  forth  sin  ;  and 
sin,  when  it  is  finished,  bringeth  forth  death.” 

Just  as  we  cannot  reap  a  good  harvest  unless  we 
have  sown  good  seed,  so  we  cannot  reap  eternal 
life  unless  we  have  sown  to  the  Spirit.  Weeds  are 
easy  to  grow.  They  grow  without  the  planting.  And 
sin  springs  up  naturally  in  the  human  heart.  Ever 
since  our  first  parents  broke  away  from  God,  the 
human  heart  has  of  itself  been  thoroughly  vile,  and 
all  its  fruits  have  been  evil.  “  The  heart  of  the  sons 
of  men  is  fully  set  in  them  to  do  evil.”  Do  you 
doubt  it  ?  If  you  do,  ask  yourself  what  would  become 
of  a  child  if  it  was  left  to  itself — no  training,  no  guid¬ 
ance,  no  education.  In  spite  of  all  -that  is  done  for 
children,  the  evil  too  often  gets  the  upper  hand.  The 
good  seed  must  be  planted  and  cared  for,  often  with 
toil  and  trouble:  but  the  harvest  will  be  sure. 

Do  we  desire  the  love  of  our  fellows  in  our  seasons 
of  trial  ?  Then  we  must  love  them  when  they  need  its 
cheering  influence  most.  Do  we  long  for  sympathy 
in  our  sorrow  and  pain  }  Then  we  shall  have  it  if  we 
have  also  wept  with  those  who  weep.  Are  we  hop¬ 
ing  to  reap  eternal  life  ?  Then  we  must  not  sow  to  the 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


17 


flesh,  or  we  shall  reap  corruption,  but  to  the  Spirit, 
then  the  promise  is  that  we  shall  reap  its  immortal 
fruits. 

Dr.  Chalmers  has  drawn  attention  to  the  difference 
between  the  act  of  sowing  and  the  act  of  reaping. 
“  Let  it  be  observed,”  he  says,  “  that  the  act  of  indulg¬ 
ing  in  the  desires  of  the  flesh  is  one  thing  and  the'  act 
of  providing  for  the  indulgence  of  them  is  another. 
When  a  man,  on  the  impulse  of  sudden  provocation, 
wreaks  his  resentful  feelings  upon  the  neighbor  who 
has  offended  him,  he  is  not  at  that  time  preparing  for 
the  indulgence  of  a  carnal  feeling,  but  actually  indulg- 
I  ing  it.  He  is  not  at  that  time  sowing,  but  reaping 
(such  as  it  is)  a  harvest  of  gratification.  This  distinc¬ 
tion  may  serve  to  assist  our  judgment  in  estimating 
the  ungodliness  of  certain  characters.  The  rambling 
voluptuary  who  is  carried  along  by  every  impulse,  and 
all  whose  powers  of  mental  discipline  are  so  enfeebled 
that  he  has  become  the  slave  of  every  propensity,  lives  in 
the  perpetual  harvest  of  criminal  gratification.  A  daugh¬ 
ter  whose  sole  delight  is  in  her  rapid  transitions  from  one 
scene  of  expensive  brilliancy  to  another,  who  dissi¬ 
pates  every  care  and  fills  every  hour  among  the  frivoli- 
I  ties  and  fascinations  of  her  volatile  society, — she  leads 
a  life  than  which  nothing  can  be  imagined  more  oppo- 
^  site  to  a  life  of  preparation  for  the  coming  judgment 
t  or  the  coming  eternity.  Yet  she  reaps  rather  than 
\  sows.  It  lies  with  another  to  gather  the  money  which 
purchaseth  all  things,  and  with  her  to  taste  the  fruits 


18 


SOWING  AND  LEAPING 


of  the  purchase.  It  is  the  father  who  sows.  It  is  he 
who  sits  in  busy  and  brooding  anxiety  over  his  specu¬ 
lations,  wrinkled,  perhaps,  by  care,  and  sobered  by 
years  into  an  utter  distaste  for  the  splendors  and  in- 
significancies  of  fashionable  life.”  The  father  sows, 
and  he  reaps  in  his  daughter’s  life. 

“  Painting  for  Eternity.” 

A  farnous  painter  was  well  known  for  the  careful 
manner  in  which  he  went  about  his  work.  When 
some  one  asked  him  why  he  took  such  pains,  he  re¬ 
plied: 

“  Because  I  am  painting  for  eternity.” 

It  is  a  solemn  thing  to  think  that  the  future  will  be  the 
harvest  of  the  present — that  my  condition  in  my  dying 
hour  may  depend  upon  my  actions  to-day  !  Belief  in 
a  future  life  and  in  a  coming  judgment  magnifies  the 
importance  of  the  present.  Eternal  issues  depend 
upon  it.  The  opportunity  for  sowing  will  not  last  for¬ 
ever;  it  is  slipping  through  our  fingers  moment  by 
moment;  and  the  future  can  only  reveal  the  harvest  of 
the  seed  sown  now. 

A  sculptor  once  showed  a  visitor  his  studio.  It  was 
full  of  statues  of  gods.  One  was  very  curious.  The 
face  was  concealed  by  being  covered  with  hair,  and 
there  were  wings  on  each  foot. 

“  What  is  his  name  ?  ”  said  the  visitor. 

“  Opportunity,”  was  the  reply. 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


19 


“  Why  is  his  face  hidden  ?  ” 

“  Because  men  seldom  know  him  when  he  comes  to 
them.” 

“  Why  has  he  wings  on  his  feet }  ” 

“  Because  he  is  soon  gone,  and  once  gone  can 
never  be  overtaken.” 

It  becomes  us,  then,  to  make  the  most  of  the 
opportunities  God  has  given  us.  It  depends  a  good 
deal  on  ourselves  what  our  future  shall  be.  We  can 
sow  for  a  good  harvest,  or  we  can  do  like  the  Sioux 
Indians,  who  once,  when  the  United  States  Commis¬ 
sioner  of  Indian  Affairs  sent  them  a  supply  of  grain 
for  sowing,  ate  it  up.  Men  are  constantly  sacrificing 
their  eternal  future  to  the  passing  enjoyment  of  the 
present  moment;  they  fail  or  neglect  to  recognize  the 
dependence  of  the  future  upon  the  present. 

Nothing  Trifling. 

From  this  we  may  learn  that  there  is  no  such  thing 
as  a  trifle  on  earth.  When  we  realize  that  every 
thought  and  word  and  act  has  an  eternal  influence, 
and  will  come  back  to  us  in  the  same  way  as  the  seed 
returns  in  the  harvest,  we  must  perceive  their  respon¬ 
sibility,  however  trifling  they  may  seem.  We  are  apt 
to  overlook  the  results  that  hinge  on  small  things.  The 
law  of  gravitation  was  suggested  by  the  fall  of  an 
apple.  It  is  said  that  some  years  ago  a  Harvard  pro- 


20 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


fessor  brought  some  gypsy-moths  to  this  country  in 
the  hope  that  they  could  with  advantage  be  crossed 
with  silkworms.  The  moths  accidentally  got  away, 
and  multiplied  so  enormously  that  the  Commonwealth 
of  Massachusetts  has  had  to  spend  hundreds  of  thou¬ 
sands  of  dollars  trying  to  exterminate  them. 

When  H.  M.  Stanley  was  pressing  his  way  through 
the  forests  of  Darkest  Africa,  the  most  formidable 
foes  that  he  encountered,  those  that  caused  most  loss 
of  life  to  his  caravan  and  came  the  nearest  to  entirely 
defeating  his  expedition,  were  the  little  Wambutti 
dwarfs.  So  annoying  were  they  that  very  slow  progress 
could  be  made  through  their  dwelling  places. 

These  little  men  had  only  little  bows  and  little 
arrows  that  looked  like  children’s  playthings,  but  upon 
these  tiny  arrows  there  was  a  small  drop  of  poison 
which  would  kill  an  elephant  or  a  man  as  quickly  and 
as  surely  as  a  Winchester  rifle.  Their  defense  was  by 
means  of  poison  and  traps.  They  would  steal  through 
the  darkness  of  the  forest  and,  waiting  in  ambush, 
let  fly  their  deadly  arrows  before  they  could  be  discov¬ 
ered.  They  dug  ditches  and  carefully  covered  them 
over  with  leaves.  They  fixed  spikes  in  the  ground  and 
tipped  them  with  the  most  deadly  poison,  and  then 
covered  them.  Into  these  ditches  and  on  these  spikes 
man  and  beast  would  fall  or  step  to  their  death. 

A  lady  once  writing  to  a  young  man  in  the'  navy  who 
was  almost  a  stranger,  thought :  “  Shall  I  close  this  as 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


21 


anybody  would,  or  shall  I  say  a  word  for  my  Mas¬ 
ter  ?  ”  and,  lifting  up  her  heart  for  a  moment,  she 
wrote,  telling  him  that  his  constant  change  of  scene 
and  place  was  an  apt  illustration  of  the  word,  “  Here 
we  have  no  continning  city and  asked  if  he  could 
say  :  “  I  seek  one  to  come.”  Tremblingly  she  folded 
it  and  sent  it  off. 

Back  came  the  answer.  “  Thank  you  so  much  for  - 
those  kind  words  !  I  am  an  orphan,  and  no  one  has 
spoken  to  me  like  that  since  my  mother  died,  long 
years  ago.”  The  arrow  shot  at  venture  hit  home,  and 
the  young  man  shortly  after  rejoiced  in  the  fulness  of 
the  blessing  of  the  gospel  of  peace. 

An  obscure  man  preached  one  Sunday  to  a  few 
persons  in  a  Methodist  chapel  in  the  South  of  Eng¬ 
land.  A  boy  of  fifteen  years  of  age  was  in  the  audi¬ 
ence,  driven  into  the  chapel  by  a  snowstorm.  The 
man  took  as  his  text  the  words,  “  Look  unto  me  and 
be  ye  saved,”  and  as  he  stumbled  along  as  best  he 
could,  the  light  of  heaven  flashed  into  that  boy’s 
heart.  He  went  out  of  the  chapel  saved,  and  soon 
became  known  as  C.  H.  Spurgeon,  the  boy-preacher. 

The  parsonage  at  Epworth,  England,  caught  fire 
one  night,  and  all  the  inmates  were  rescued  except 
one  son.  The  boy  came  to  a  window,  and  was 
brought  safely  to  the  ground  by  two  farm-hands,  one 
standing  on  the  shoulder  of  the  other.  The  boy  was 
John  Wesley.  If  you  would  realize  the  responsibility 


22 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


of  that  incident,  if  you  would  measure  the  conse¬ 
quences  of  that  rescue,  ask  the  millions  of  Methodists 
who  look  back  to  John  Wesley  as  the  founder  of  their 
denomination. 


'h 


BE  NOT  DECEIVED;  GOD  IS 
NOT  MOCKED. 


Let  710  771071  deceive  you." — Eph.  v:  6. 

As  07ie  771071  77iocketh  O7ioiher,  do  ye  so  77wck  Hwi  f  " — Job 
xiii:  9. 


CHAPTER  II. 


Be  Not  Deceived:  God  Is  Not  Mocked. 

We  have  all  lived  long  enough  to  know  what  it  is  to 
be  deceived.  We  have  been  deceived  by  our  friends, 
by  our  enemies,  our  neighbors,  our  relatives.  Ungodly 
companions  have  deceived  us.  At  every  turn  of  life 
we  have  been  imposed  upon  in  one  way  or  another. 

False  teachers  have  crossed  our  path,  and  under 
pretence  of  doing  us  good,  have  poisoned  our  mind 
with  error.  They  have  held  out  hopes  to  us  that  have 
proved  false;  apples  of  Sodom,  fair  without,  but  full 
of  ashes  within.  They  have  told  us  that  there  is  no 
God,  no  future  life,  no  judgment  to  come;  or  they  have 
said  that  all  men  will  be  saved,  that  there  is  ample 
time  to  repent,  that  we  may  be  saved  by  doing  the  best 
we  can. 

Sin  has  deceived  us.  Every  sinner  is  under  a  de¬ 
lusion.  Sin  meets  him  smilingly,  and  holds  out  to  him 
pleasures  and  delights  that  are  not  pure  and  lasting. 

During  our  meetings  in  Boston  a  young  man  came 
into  the  Tabernacle.  He  looked  around,  and  he 
thought  to  himself  the  people  that  came  there  were 
great  fools — those  who  had  business,  and  comfortable 
homes,  and  good  clothes.  He  had  nothing  in  the 


26 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


world — he  was  a  tramp,  and  went  in  there  to  keep 
himself  warm.  But  to  think  that  people  who  had 
homes  would  come  and  spend  their  time  in  listening  to 
such  stuff  as  I  preached  was  more  than  he  could  under¬ 
stand. 

One  night  after  he  had  been  coming  there  for  two 
weeks,  I  happened  to  point  right  down  where  he  was 
sitting,  and  I  said,  “  Young  man,  be  not  deceived  !  ” 
God  used  that  as  an  arrow.  He  began  to  think  about 
himself.  His  mind  went  back  to  the  time  when  he 
had  a  good  situation  in  Boston;  when  he  was  a  5"oung 
man  getting  a  good  salary;  when  he  was  in  good  society, 
and  had  a  great  many  friends. 

Then  he  looked  at  his  present  condition.  His  friends 
were  all  gone,  his  clothes  were  gone,  his  money  was 
gone;  and  there  he  was,  an  outcast  in  that  city.  He 
said  to  himself,  “  I  have  been  deceived,”  and  that 
very  hour  God  waked  him.  He  wanted  to  get  friends 
to  pray  for  him;  but  as  he  was  not  able  to  buy  a  piece 
of  paper,  or  pay  for  a  postage  stamp,  he  got  an  old 
piece  of  soiled  paper,  stood  up  in  the  street,  and  wrote 
a  request  to  be  read  in  the  Tabernacle,  that  if  God 
would  save  a  poor,  lost  man  like  him,  he  wanted  to  be 
saved.  That  prayer  was  answered.  As  in  the  case  of 
Nebuchadnezzar,  his  friends  gathered  around  him 
again,  and  the  Lord  restored  him  to  position  and  to 
society.  His  eyes  were  opened  to  see  how  he  had 
been  deceived. 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


27 


Satan. 

How  many  men  all  over  the  world  are  being  de¬ 
ceived  by  the  god  of  this  world  !  It  has  been  asserted 
that  during  the  late  Franco-German  war,  German 
drummers  and  trumpeters  used  to  give  the  French 
beats  and  calls  in  order  to  deceive  their  enemies. 
The  command  to  “  halt,”  or  “  cease  firing,”  was  often 
given  by  the  Germans,  it  has  been  said,  and  the 
French  soldiers  were  thus  placed  in  positions  where 
they  could  be  shot  down  like  cattle. 

Satan  is  the  arch-enemy  of  our  souls,  and  he  has 
often  blinded  our  reason  and  deceived  our  conscience 
by  his  falsehoods.  He  has  often  come  as  an  angel  of 
light,  concealing  his  hideousness  under  a  borrowed 
cloak.  He  says  to  a  young  man:  “  Sow  your  wild 
oats.  Time  enough  to  be  religious  when  you  grow 
old.”  The  young  man  yields  himself  to  a  life  of  ex¬ 
travagance  and  excess,  under  the  false  hope  that  he 
will  obtain  solid  satisfaction;  and  it  is  well  if  he 
awakens  to  the  deception  before  his  appetites  become 
tyrants,  dragging  him  down  into  depths  of  want  and 
woe.  Satan  promises  great  things  to  his  victims  in  the 
indulgence  of  their  lusts,  but  they  never  realize  the 
promises.  The  promised  pleasure  turns  out  to  be 
pain,  the  promised  heaven  a  hell. 

Beware  lest  Satan  deceive  you  as  he  deceived  Eve 
in  the  beginning.  “  There  is  no  truth  in  him.  When 


28 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


he  speaketh  a  lie,  he  speaketh  of  his  own,  for  he  is  a 
liar,  and  the  father  of  it.” 

Our  Heart. 

But  we  have  been  deceived  by  our  own  heart  most 
of  all.  Who  has  not  proved  the  truth  of  the  Scripture: 

“  The  heart  is  deceitful  above  all  things  and  des¬ 
perately  wicked;  who  can  know  it  ”  How  many 
times  we  have  said  that  we  never  would  do  a  certain 
thing  again,  and  then  have  done  it  within  twenty-four 
hours  !  A  man  may  think  he  has  fathomed  its  : 
depths,  but  he  finds  there  are  further  depths  he  has  | 
not  reached.  What  gross  self-deception  is  due  to  it  ! 

“  He  that  trusteth  in  his  own  heart  is  a  fool,”  said 
Solomon.  ,  Luther  once  said  he  feared  his  own  heart 
more  than  the  Pope  and  all  the  cardinals. 

Many  a  weeping  wife  has  come  to  me  about  her 
husband,  saying:  “  He  is  good  at  heart.”  The  truth 
is — that  is  the  worst  spot  in  him.  If  the  heart  was 
good,  all  else  would  be  right.  Out  of  the  heart  are 
the  issues  of  life.  Christ  said:  “  From  within,  out  I 
of  the  heart  of  men,  proceed  evil  thoughts,  adulteries, 
fornications,  murders,  thefts,  covetousness,  wicked¬ 
ness,  deceit,  lasciviousness,  an  evil  eye,  blasphemy, 
pride,  foolishness.”  That  is  Christ’s  own  statement 
regarding  the  unregenerate  heart. 

Some  years  ago  a  remarkable  picture  was  exhibited 
in  London.  As  you  looked  at  it  from  a  distance,  you 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


29 


seemed  to  see  a  monk  engaged  in  prayer,  his  hands 
clasped,  his  head  bowed.  As  you  came  nearer,  how¬ 
ever,  and  examined  the  painting  more  closely,  you 
saw  that  in  reality  he  was  squeezing  a  lemon  into  a 
punchbowl  ! 

What  a  picture  that  is  of  the  human  heart  !  Super¬ 
ficially  examined,  it  is  thought  to  be  the  seat  of  all 
that  is  good  and  noble  and  pleasing  in  a  man;  whereas 
in  reality,  until  regenerated  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  it  is 
the  seat  of  all  corruption.  “  This  is  the  condemnation, 
that  light  is  come  into  the  world,  and  men  loved  dark¬ 
ness  rather  than  light. 

A  Jewish  rabbi  once  asked  his  scholars  what  was 
the  best  thing  a  man  could  have  in  order  to  keep  him 
in  the  straight  path.  One  said  a  good  disposition ; 
another,  a  good  companion ;  another  said  wisdom  was 
the  best  thing  he  could  desire.  At  last  a  scholar 
replied  that  he  thought  a  good  heart  was  best  of  all. 

“  True,”  said  the  rabbi,  “  you  have  comprehended 
all  that  the  others  have  said.  For  he  that  hath  a 
good  heart  will  be  of  a  good  disposition,  and  a  good 
companion,  and  a  wise  man.  Let  every  one,  there¬ 
fore,  cultivate  a  sincerity  and  uprightness  of  heart  at 
all  times,  and  it  will  save  him  an  abundance  of  sor¬ 
row.”  We  need  to  make  the  prayer  of  David — 
“  Create  in  me  a  clean  heart,  O  God,  and  renew  a 
right  spirit  within  me!” 


So 


so  WING  AND  REAPING 


God  Is  Not  Mocked. 

Bear  in  mind,  the  God  of  the  Bible  has  never 
deceived  anyone,  and  never  can,  and  never  will;  that 
is  the  difference  between  the  God  of  the  Bible  and  the 
god  of  this  world.  He  beholds  the  ways  of  men;  He 
looks  into  their  hearts;  He  knows  their  secret  ways; 
they  need  not  tell  Him  or  try  to  conceal  anything  from 
Him. 

However  successfully  we  may  deceive  or  be  deceived 
by  ourselves  opothers,  we  cannot  deceive  Him.  Adam 
and  Eve  tried  it  in  Eden  when  they  hid  themselves 
from  the  presence  of  Jehovah  amongst  the  trees  of  the 
garden.  Saul  tried  it  when  he  spared  the  best  of  the 
sheep  and  oxen  of  the  Amalekites  under  the  pretence 
of  sacrificing  them  to  God.  Ananias  and  Sapphira 
tried  it  when  they  kept  back  part  of  the  price  of  the 
land  they  sold.  “  Why  hath  Satan  filled  thine  heart 
to  lie  unto  (deceive)  the  Holy  Ghost  ?  *  *  *  Thou 

hast  not  lied  unto  men,  but  unto  God.” 

Men  try  it  every  day.  They  have  got  it  into  their 
heads  that  God  can  be  mocked.  Because  they  can 
deceive  their  pastor,  and  their  employer,  and  their 
friends,  they  think  they  can  deceive  God.  They  put 
on  false  appearances,  they  use  empty  words,  they  per¬ 
form  unreal  service,  they  make  idle  excuses,  they 
indulge  in  all  kinds  of  hypocrisy.  But  it  is  of  no  avail. 
God  cannot  be  imposed  upon.  He  sees  the  cor¬ 
ruption  inside  the  whited  sepulchre. 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


31 


Warning  to  Christians. 

It  is  worth  noticing  that  this  warning  was  given  by 
Paul  to  Christian  men — converts  in  the  Galatian 
church.  After  all,  a  man  is  not  all  the  time  deceived 
about  the  grosser  sins.  The  drunkard  realizes  in  his 
sober  moments  what  must  be  the  end  of  a  course  of 
intemperance.  Loss  of  self-respect  and  of  the  esteem 
of  friends,  the  marks  he  soon  begins  to  bear  in  his 
body — unsteady  hands  and  discolored  features — these 
things  are  the  quick  harvest  of  drunkenness,  and  may 
easily  be  detected  as  they  ripen.  The  licentious  man, 
also,  reaps  the  early  fruit  of  his  sin  in  diseases  of  the 
body,  which  are  often  effective  warnings  against  con¬ 
tinuing  in  such  a  dangerous  path.  But  with  “  respect¬ 
able  ”  sins  it  is  different.  A  raan  may  be  sowing  for 
years,  and  not  even  realize  it  himself. 

You  remember  that  in  the  parable  of  the  sower 
some  seeds  fell  among  thorns,  and  the  thorns  sprung 
up  and  choked  them.  Our  Master,  expounding  this 
parable,  said:  “  He  that  received  seed  among  the 
thorns  is  he  that  heareth  the  word :  but  the  care  of  this 
world  and  the  deceitfidness  of  riches  choke  the  word, 
and  he  becometh  unfruitful.  ”  Who  would  have  expect¬ 
ed  this  result  of  the  world  or  of  riches  }  But  it  has  been 
said  that  Christ  never  spoke  of  riches  except  in  words 
of  warning.  We  are  not  apt  to  regard  them  in  that 
light  to-day.  Men  are  trampling  each  other  down  in 


32 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


the  pursuit  of  wealth.  “  Be  not  deceived.”  He  who 
sets  his  heart  upon  money  is  sowing  to  the  flesh,  and 
shall  of  the  flesh  reap  corruption.  “  Adversity  hath 
slain  her  thousands,  but  prosperity  her  tens  of  thou¬ 
sands.  ” 

“  What  is  the  value  of  this  estate  said  a  gentle¬ 
man  to  another,  as  they  passed  a  fine  mansion  sur¬ 
rounded  by  fair  and  fertile  fields. 

“  I  don’t  know  what  it  is  valued  at;  I  know  what  it 
cost  its  late  possessor.” 

“  How  much  }  ” 

“  His  soul.” 

,An  English  clergyman  was  called  to  the  death-bed  - 
of  a  wealthy  parishioner.  Kneeling  beside  the  dying 
m.an  the  pastor  asked  him  to  take  his  hand  as  he 
prayed  for  his  upholding  in  that  solemn  hour,  but  he 
declined  to  give  it.  After  the  end  had  come,  and  they 
turned  down  the  coverlet,  the  rigid  hands  were  found 
holding  the  safe-key  in  their  death-grip.  Heart  and 
hand,  to  the  last,  clinging  to  his  possessions,  but  he 
could  not  take  them  with  him. 

A  man  may  be  proud,  and  his  very  sin  reckoned  a 
virtue.  Hear  what  the  Word  of  God  says:  “Haughti¬ 
ness  of  eyes  and  a  proud  heart  is  sin  ”;  “  every  one 
that  is  proud  in  heart  is  an  abomination  to  the  Lord.” 

These  are  the  mistakes  men  make.  They  are  lead¬ 
ing  respectable  lives,  and  they  think  that  all  is  well. 
They  do  not  recognize  the  taint  of  corruption  upon 
many  of  the  most  cherished  objects  of  their  hearts. 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


33 


Christian  professors,  most  of  all,  need  to  beware  lest 
they  are  being  deceived. 

Neglect. 

How  watchful  men  should  be  of  their  thoughts, 
their  practices,  their  feelings  !  The  reason  of  decep¬ 
tion  is,  for  the  most  part,  neglect.  Men  do  not  stop 
to  examine  themselves,  to  lay  their  hearts  and  minds 
bare  as  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  judge  themselves  by 
His  most  holy  will.  A  man  need  not  shoot  himself  in 
order  to  commit  suicide:  he  need  only  neglect  the 
proper  means  of  sustenance,  and  he  will  soon  die. 
Where  an  enemy  is  strong  and  aggressive,  an  army  is 
doomed  to  sure  defeat  and  capture  unless  a  sharp 
look-out  is  kept,  every  man  wide  awake  at  his  post  of 
duty. 

It  has  been  noticed  that  there  are  more  accidents  in 
Switzerland  in  fine  seasons  than  in  stormy  ones. 
People  are  apt  to  undertake  expeditions  that  they 
would  not  take  under  less  favorable  conditions,  and 
they  are  less  careful  in  their  conduct.  And  so  it  is 
that  moral  and  spiritual  disaster  usually  overtakes 
men  when  they  are  off  their  guard,  careless  against 
temptation.  They  become  proud  and  self-reliant  in 
seasons  of  prosperity,  whereas  adversity  drives  them 
to  the  living  God  for  guidance  and  comfort. 

Dr.  Johnson  once  said  that  it  is  more  from  careless¬ 
ness  regarding  the  truth  than  from  intentional  lying 
that  there  is  so  much  falsehood  in  the  world. 


34 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


Hence  the  necessity  of  continual  watchfulness. 

The  Persians  had  an  annual  festival  when  they  slew 

all  the  serpents  and  venemous  creatures  they  could 

find;  but  they  allowed  them  to  swarm  as  fast  and 

> 

freely  as  ever  until  the  festival  came  round  once  more. 
It  was  poor  policy.  Sins,  like  serpents,  breed  quickly, 
and  need  to  be  constantly  watched. 

And  we  ought  to  watch  on  every  side.  Many  a 
man  has  fallen  at  the  very  point  where  he  thought  he 
was  safest.  The  meekness  of  Moses  has  passed  into  a 
proverb.  Yet  he  lost  the  Promised  Land,  because  he 
allowed  the  children  of  Israel  to  provoke  him,  and 
“  he  spake  unadvisedly  with  his  lips.”  Peter  was  the 
most  zealous  and  defiant  of  the  disciples,  bold  and  out¬ 
spoken;  yet  he  degenerated  for  a  short  time  into  a 
lying,  swearing,  sneaking  coward,  afraid  of  a  maid. 

There  is  an  old  fable  that  a  doe  that  had  but  one 
eye  used  to  graze  near  the  sea;  and  in  order  to  be  safe, 
she  kept  her  blind  eye  toward  the  water,  from  which 
side  she  expected  no  danger,  while  with  the  good  eye 
she  watched  the  country.  Some  men,  perceiving  this, 
took  a  boat  and  came  upon  her  from  the  sea  and 
shot  her.  With  her  dying  breath,  she  said: 

“  Oh!  hard  fate!  that  I  should  receive  my  death- 
wound  from  that  side  whence  I  expected  no  harm,  and 
be  safe  in  the  part  where  I  looked  for  most  danger.” 

Let  danger  and  need  drive  you  closer  to  God.  He 
never  slumbers  or  sleeps,  and  in  His  keeping  you  will 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


35 


be  safe.  Seize  hold  of  Him  in  prayer.  “  Watch  and 
pray.” 


Christianity  Not  Responsible. 

Christianity  is  not  responsible  for  the  deception  that 
exists  among  its  professing  disciples.  The  illustration 
has  been  used  before  that  you  might  just  as  reason¬ 
ably  hold  the  Cunard  company  responsible  for  the 
suicide  of  a  passenger  who  jumps  overboard  one  of 
their  vessels  at  sea.  Had  the  person  remained  on  the 
vessel,  he  would  have  been  safe;  and  had  the  disciple 
remained  true  to  his  principles,  he  would  never  have 
turned  out  a  hypocrite.  Was  anybody  ever  more 
severe  in  denouncing  hypocrisy  than  Christ }  Do  you 
want  to  know  the  reason  why,  every  now  and  then, 
the  church  is  scandalized  by  the  exposure  of  some 
leading  church  member  or  Sabbath  school  superin¬ 
tendent  }  It  is  not  his  Christianity,  but  his  lack  of  it. 
Some  secret  sin  has  been  eating  at  the  heart  of  the 
tree,  and  in  a  critical  moment  it  is  blown  down  and 
its  rottenness  revealed. 

The  Deception  Can  Not  Last  Forever. 

It  is  impossible  for  the  deception  to  last  forever. 
Lincoln  had  a  saying  that  you  may  be  able  to  deceive 
all  the  people  some  of  the  time,  and  some  of  the  peo¬ 
ple  all  of  the  time,  but  you  will  not  be  able  to  deceive 
all  the  people  all  of  the  time.  Death  will  uncover  the 


36  SOWING  AND  REAPING 


deception,  if  it  has  not  been  detected  sooner;  and  the 
unfortunate  victim  will  stand,  undeceived,  in  the  pres¬ 
ence  of  a  God  who  cannot  be  mocked. 


WHEN  A  MAN  SOWS,  HE 

I 

EXPECTS  TO  REAP. 


Behold^  the  husbandman  waiteth  for  the  precious  fruit  of 
the  earthy  a7id  hath  lo7ig patience  for  it,  until  he  receive  the  early 
a7id  latter  ram." — James  v:  7, 


CHAPTER  III. 


When  a  Man  Sows,  He  Expects  to  Reap. 

Notice  these  four  things  about  sowing  and  reaping: 
A  man  expects  to  reap  when  he  sows;  he  expects  to 
reap  the  same  kind  of  seed  that  he  sows;  he  expects 
to  reap  more;  and  ignorance  of  the  kind  of  seed  makes 
no  difference. 

First:  When  a  man  sows ^  he  expects  to  reap. 

If  a  farmer  went  on  sowing,  spring  after  spring,  and 
never  reaping  in  the  autumn,  you  would  say  he  was 
a  fit  subject  for  the  lunatic  asylum.  No;  he  is  always 
looking  forward  to  the  time  when  he  will  reap  the  re¬ 
ward  of  his  toil.  He  never  expects  that  the  seed  he 
has  sown  will  be  lost. 

A  young  man  serves  a  long  apprenticeship  to  some 
trade  or  profession;  but  he  expects  by  and  by  to  reap 
the  fruit  of  all  those  years  of  patient  industry.  Ask 
an  engineer  why  he  works  so  hard  for  five,  six,  or 
seven  years  in  the  endeavor  to  learn  his  profession. 
He  replies  that  he  is  looking  forward  to  the  reaping 
time,  when  his  fortune  and  reputation  will  be  made. 
The  lawyer  studies  long  and  hard;  but  he,  too,  an¬ 
ticipates  the  time  when  his  clients  will  be  numerous, 
and  he  will  be  repaid  for  his  toil.  A  great  many 


40 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


medical  students  have  a  hard  time  trying  to  support 
themselves  while  they  are  at  college.  As  soon  as 
they  get  their  diploma  and  become  doctors  they  ex¬ 
pect  that  the  reaping  time  is  coming;  that  is  what  they 
have  been  working  for. 

Some  harvests  ripen  almost  immediately,  but  as  a 
rule  we  find  it  true  in  the  natural  world  that  there  is 
delay  before  the  seed  comes  to  maturity.  It  is  grow¬ 
ing  all  the  time,  however;  first  the  little  green  shoot 
breaking  through  the  soil,  then  the  blade,  then  the 
ear,  then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear.  The  farmer  is  not 
disappointed  because  all  his  crops  do  not  spring  up  in 
a  night  like  mushrooms.  He  looks  forward  with 
patience,  knowing  that  the  reaping  time  will  come  in 
due  season. 

So  with  the  harvest  of  our  actions.  Few  men,  if 
any,  would  indulge  in  sin  unless  they  expected  pleas¬ 
ure  out  of  it.  A  drunkard  does  not  drink  for  the  mere 
sake  of  drinking,  but  in  the  hope  of  present  enjoy¬ 
ment.  A  thief  does  not  steal  for  the  mere  sake  of 
stealing,  but  for  the  sake  of  gain.  And  similarly  with 
the  good  man.  He  does  not  make  sacrifices  merel}^ 
for  the  sake  of  sacrifice,  but  because  thereby  he  hopes 
and  expects  to  do  good,  and  help  others.  All  these 
things  are  means  to  ends:  there  is  always  expecta¬ 
tion  of  a  harvest. 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


41 


The  Certainty  of  the  Reaping. 

The  text  bids  us  look  forward  to  the  certainty  of 
the  reaping:  “  Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall 
he  also  reap.” 

We  know  what  it  is  to  have  a  failure  of  the  crops, 
but  in  the  spiritual  world  no  such  failure  is  possible. 
Wet  soil  may  rot  the  seed,  or  frost  may  nip  the  early 
buds,  or  the  weather  may  prove  too  wet  or  too  dry  to 
bring  the  crops  to  maturity,  but  none  of  these  things 
occur  to  prevent  the  harvest  of  one’s  actions.  The 
Bible  tells  us  that  God  will  render  to  every  man  ac¬ 
cording  to  his  deeds.  “  To  them  who  by  patient  con¬ 
tinuance  in  well-doing  seek  for  glory  and  honor  and 
immortality,  eternal  life:  but  unto  them  that  are  con¬ 
tentious,  and  do  not  obey  the  truth,  but  obey  unright¬ 
eousness,  indignation  and  wrath,  tribulation  and  an¬ 
guish  upon  every  soul  of  man  that  doeth  evil.”  How 
careful  we  should  be  of  our  actions  in  all  departments 
of  our  being,  physical,  moral,  intellectual  !  The 
deeds  we  do,  the  words  we  speak,  the  thoughts  we 
harbor,  are  all  recorded,  and  shall  meet  their  just  re¬ 
ward,  for  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons. 

And  it  must  not  be  overlooked  that  the  harvest 
comes  as  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  sowing.  It 
has  been  said  that  God  is  not  a  sort  of  a  moral  despot, 
as  He  is  so  frequently  regarded.  He  does  not  sit  on 
a  throne,  attaching  penalties  to  particular  actions  as 


42 


S GIVING  AND  REAPING 


they  come  up  for  judgment.  He  has  laid  down  cer¬ 
tain  laws,  of  which  the  law  of  sowing  and  reaping 
is  one,  and  punishment  is  the  natural  outcome  of 
sin.  There  is  no  escape.  .It  must  be  borne;  and 
though  others  may  have  to  reap  with  you,  no  one  can 
reap  for  you. 

The  text  teaches,"  further,  that  the  harvest  is  07ie  or 
other  of  tzvo  kbids.  There  are  two,  and  only  two,  di¬ 
rections  in  which  the  law  leads:  Sowing  to  the  flesh, 
and  a  harvest  of  corruption — sowing  to  the  Spirit,  and 
a  harvest  of  everlasting  life. 

Sowing  to  the  Flesh. 

“  Sowing  to  the  flesh  ”  does  not  mean  simply  tak¬ 
ing  due  care  of  the  body.  The  body  was  made  in  the 
image  of  God,  and  the  body  of  a  believer  is  a  temple 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  we  may  be  sure  that  due  care 
for  the  image  is  well-pleasing  to  God.  The  expres¬ 
sion  refers  rather  to  pandering  to  the  lusts  of  the 
body,  pampering  it,  providing  gratification  for  its  un¬ 
lawful  desires  at  the  expense  of  the  higher  part  of  a 
man,  indulging  the  animal  propensities  which  in  their 
excess  are  sinful.  “  Sowing  to  the  flesh  ”  is  scattering 
the  seeds  of  selfishness,  which  always  must  yield  a 
harvest  of  corruption. 

“  When  we  were  in  the  flesh,  the  motions  of  sins 
did  work  in  our  members  to  bring  forth  fruit  unto 
death.”  And  what  does  Paul  say  are  the  works  of  the 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


43 


flesh  ?  “  Adultery,  fornication,  uncleahness,  lascivi¬ 

ousness,  idolatry,  witchcraft,  hatred,  variance,  emula¬ 
tions,  wrath,  strife,  seditions,  heresies,  envyings,  mur¬ 
ders,  drunkenness,  revellings,  and  such  like.” 

I  was  at  the  Paris  exhibition  in  1867,  and  I  noticed 
there  a  little  oil  painting,  only  about  a  foot  square, 
and  the  face  was  the  most  hideous  I  have  ever  seen. 
On  the  paper  attached  to  the  painting  were  the  words 
“  Sowing  the  tares,”  and  the  face  looked  more  like  a 
demon’s  than  a  man’s.  As  he  sowed  these  tares,  up 
came  serpents  and  reptiles,  and  they  were  crawling  up 
on  his  body,  and  all  around  were  woods  with  wolves 
and  animajs  prowling  in  them.  I  have  seen  that  pict¬ 
ure  many  times  since.  Ah  !  the  reaping  time  is 
coming.  If  you  sow  to  the  flesh  you  must  reap 
the  flesh.  If  you  sow  to  the  wind  you  must  reap 
the  whirlwind. 

And  yet  it  must  not  be  thought  that  indulgence  in 
the  grosser  vices  is  the  only  way  of  sowing  to  the  flesh. 
Every  desire,  every  action  that  has  not  God  for  its  end 
and  object  is  seed  sown  to  the  flesh.  If  a  man  is  sowing 
for  a  harvest  of  money  or  ambition,  he  is  sowing  to 
the  flesh,  and  will  reap  corruption,  just  as  surely  as 
the  liar  and  adulterer.  No  matter  how  “  polite”  and 
“  refined  ”  and  “  respectable  ”  the  seed  may  be,  no 
matter  how  closely  it  resembles  the  good  seed,  its 
true  nature  will  out,  the  blight  of  corruption  will  be 
upon  it. 


44 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


How  foolish  are  the  strivings  of  men  in  view  of  this 
judgment  !  Many  a  man  will  sacrifice  time,  health — 
even  his  character — for  money.  What  does  he  gain  > 
Corruption;  something  that  is  not  eternal,  that  has 
not  the  qualities  of  “  everlasting  life.”  John  said, 
“The  world  passeth  away,  and  the  lust  thereof.” 
Peter  said,  “  All  flesh  is  as  grass,  and  all  the  glory  of 
man  as  the  flower  of  grass.  The  grass  withereth,  and 
the  flower  thereof  falleth  away.”  None  of  these 
fleshly  things  have  their  roots  in  the  eternal.  You 
may  even  outlive  them  in  your  own  short  life. 

No  Bridge  Between. 

Now,  men  make  this  mistake — they  sow  to  the  flesh, 
and  they  think  they  will  reap  the  harvest  of  the  spirit; 
and  on  the  other  hand,  they  sow  to  the  spirit  and  are 
disappointed  when  they  do  not  reap  a  temporal  har¬ 
vest. 

A  teacher  had  been  relating  to  his  class  the  parable 
of  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus,  and  he  asked: 

“  Now,  which  would  you  rather  be,  boys,  the  rich 
man  or  Lazarus  V' 

One  boy  answered,  “  I  would  rather  be  the  rich  man 
while  I  live,  and  Lazarus  when  I  die.” 

That  cannot  be:  it  is  flesh  and  corruption,  or.  Spirit 
and  everlasting  life.  There  is  no  bridge  from  one  to 
the  other. 

“  Seed  which  is  sown  for  a  spiritual  harvest  has  no 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


45 


tendency  whatever  to  procure  tempora  1  well-being. 
Christ  declared,  ‘  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart;  for 
they  shall  see  God;  blessed  are  they  that  hunger  and 
thirst  after  righteousness,  for  they  shall  be  filled  ’  (with 
righteousness);  ‘  blessed  are  they  that  mourn,  for  they 
shall  be  comforted.’  You  observe  the  beatific  vision 
of  the  Almighty — fulness  of  righteousness — divine  com¬ 
fort.  There  is  nothing  earthly  here,  it  is  spiritual 
results  for  spiritual  labor.  It  is  not  said  that  the  pure 
in  heart  shall  be  made  rich;  or  that  they  who  hunger 
and  thirst  after  righteousness  shall  be  filled  with  bread, 
or  that  they  who  mourn  shall  rise  in  life,  and  obtain  dis¬ 
tinction.  Each  department  has  its  own  appropriate 
harvest,  reserved  exclusively  to  its  own  method  of 
sowing. 

“  Everything  reaps  its  own  harvest,  every  act  has 
its  own  reward.  And  before  you  covet  the  enjoyment 
which  another  possesses,  you  must  first  calculate  the 
cost  at  which  it  was  procured. 

“  For  instance,  the  religious  tradesman  complains 
that  his  honesty  is  a  hindrance  to  his  success;  that  the 
tide  of  custom  pours  into  the  doors  of  his  less  scrupu¬ 
lous  neighbor  in  the  same  street,  while  he  himself  waits 
for  hours  idle.  My  brother,  do  you  think  that  God 
is  going  to  reward  honor,  integrity,  high-mindedness, 
with  this  world’s  coin  }  Do  you  fancy  that  He  will  pay 
spiritual  excellence  with  plenty  of  custom  >  Now  con¬ 
sider  the  price  that  man  has  paid  for  his  success.  Per¬ 
haps  mental  degradation  and  inward  dishonor.  His 


46 


SOWING  AND  DEAPING 


advertisements  are  all  deceptive,  his  treatment  of  his 
workmen  tyrannical,  his  cheap  prices  made  possible  by 
inferior  articles.  Sow  that  man’s  seed,  and  you  will 
reap  that  man’s  harvest.  Cheat,  lie,  be  unscrupulous 
in  your  assertions,  and  custom  will  come  to  you.  But 
if  the  price  be  too  high,  let  him  have  his  harvest,  and 
you  take  yours — a  clear  conscience,  a  pure  mind,  rec¬ 
titude  within  and  without.  Will  you  part  with  that 
for  his  harvest }  ” 

Sowing  to  the  Spirit. 

“  Sowing  to  the  Spirit  ”  implies  self-denial,  resist-  . 
ance  of  evil,  obedience  to  the  Spirit,  walking  in  the 
Spirit,  living  in  the  Spirit,  guidance  by  the  Spirit. 
We  sow  to  the  Spirit  when  we  use  our  abilities  and 
means  to  advance  Spiritual  things;  when  we  support 
and  encourage  those  who  are  extending  the  influence 
of  the  Spirit.  We  sow  to  the  Spirit  when  we  crucify 
the  flesh  and  all  its  lusts,  when  we  yield  ourselves  to 
Him  as-we  once  yielded  ourselves  to  the  flesh.  A  Jew¬ 
ish  rabbi  once  said:  “  There  are  in  every  man  two 
impulses,  good  and  evil.  He  who  offers  God  his  evil 
impulses  offers  the  best  sacrifice.” 

The  fruit  of  such  sowing  is  “  love,  joy,  peace,  long- 
suffering,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness,  tem¬ 
perance.” 

In  this  world  the  harvest  is  growth  of  character, 
deeper  respect,  increasing  usefulness  to  others;  in  the 
next  world,  acceptance  with  God,  everlasting  life. 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


47 


Among  the  last  recorded  words  of  Henry  Lloyd 
Garrison  in  his  public  speeches  in  England  were  these: 
“  I  began  my  advocacy  of  the  anti-slavery  cause  in  the 
Northern  States  of  America,  in  the  midst  of  brickbats 
and  rotten  eggs;  and  I  ended  it  on  the  soil  of  South 
Carolina  almost  literally  buried  beneath  the  wreaths 
of  flowers  which  were  heaped  upon  me  by  her  liber¬ 
ated  bondmen." 

A  young  man  was  employed  by  a  large  commission 
firm  in  New  York  City  during  the  late  civil  war,  to 
negotiate  with  a  certain  party  for  a  lot  of  damaged 
beans.  The  beans  were  purchased,  delivered,  and 
spread  out  upon  the  upper  floor  of  the  building  occu¬ 
pied  by  the  firm. 

Men  were  employed  to  turn  them  over  and  over,  and 
to  sprinkle  them  with  a  solution  of  soda,  so  as  to  im¬ 
prove  their  appearance  and  render  them  more  salable. 
A  large  lot  of  the  first  quality  of  beans  was  then  pur¬ 
chased;  some  of  the  good  beans  were  first  put  into 
barrels,  then  the  barrels  were  nearly  filled  with  the  poor 
ones;  after  this  the  good  ones  were  again  put  on  the  top 
and  the  barrels  headed  up  for  sale. 

The  employer  marked  the  barrels,  “  Beans — A  i." 
The  clerk  seeing  this,  said:  “  Do  you  think,  sir,  that  it 
is  right  to  mark  those  beans  A  i  " 

The  employer  retorted  sharply:  “  Are  you  head  of 
the  firm .? " 

The  clerk  said  no  more.  The  barreling  and  heading 
went  on.  When  all  was  ready,  the  beans  (many  hun- 


48 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


dreds  of  barrels)  were  put  on  the  market  for  sale. 
Specimens  of  the  best  quality  were  shown  in  the  office 
to  buyers. 

At  length  a  shrewd  purchaser  came  m  (no  man  is  so 
sharp  in  business  but  he  will  often  meet  his  equal),  ex¬ 
amined  the  samples  in  the  office,  inquired  the  price,  and 
then  wished  to  see  the  stock  in  bulk.  The  clerk  was 
ordered  to  go  with  the  buyer  to  the  upper  loft  and  show 
him  the  stock.  An  open  barrel  was  shown  apparently 
of  the  same  quality  of  the  sample.  The  buyer  then 
said  to  the  clerk: 

“  Young  man,  the  samples  of  beans  shown  me  are  of 
the  first  quality,  and  it  is  impossible  to  purchase  beans 
an3"where  in  the  market  for  the  price  at  which  you  offer 
them;  there  is  something  wrong  here.  Tell  me,  are 
these  beans  the  same  quality  throughout  the  entire  bar¬ 
rel  as  they  appear  on  the  top  ?  ” 

The  clerk  now  found  himself  in  a  strange  position. 
He  thought,  “  Shall  I  lie  for  my  employer,  as  he  un¬ 
doubtedly  means  I  shall;  or  shall  I  tell  the  truth,  come 
what  will  ?  ”  He  decided  for  the  truth,  and  said: 

“  No,  sir,  they  are  not.” 

“  Then,”  said  the  customer.  “  I  do  not  want  them  ”; 
and  he  left. 

The  clerk  enterea  the  office.  The  emplo^^er  said  to 
him:  “  Did  3'ou  sell  that  man  those  beans  }  ” 

He  said,  “  No,  sir.” 

“  Why  not.?” 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


49 


“  Well,  sir,  the  man  asked  me  if  those  beans  were  of 
the  same  quality  through  the  entire  barrel  as  they  ap¬ 
peared  on  the  top.  I  told  him  they  were  not.  He  then 
said:  ‘  I  do  not  want  them,’  and  left.” 

“  Go  to  the  cashier,”  said  the  employer,  “  and  get 
your  wages;  we  want  you  no  longer.” 

He  received  his  pay  and  left  the  office,  rejoicing  that 
he  had  not  lied  for  the  purposes  of  abetting  a  sordid 
avariciousness,  and  benefiting  an  unprincipled  em¬ 
ployer. 

Three  weeks  after  this  the  firm  sent  after  the  young 
clerk,  entreated  him  to  come  back  again  into  their  em¬ 
ploy,  and  offered  him  three  hundred  dollars  salary  more 
per  year  than  they  had  ever  before  given  him. 

And  thus  was  his  honesty  and  truthfulness  rewarded. 
The  firm  knew  and  felt  that  the  man  was  right,  although 
apparently  they  had  lost  largely  by  his  honesty.  They 
wished  to  have  him  again  in  their  employ,  because  they 
knew  that  they  could  trust  him,  and  never  suffer 
through  fraud  and  deception.  They  knew  that  their 
financial  interests  would  be  safe  in  his  custody.  They 
respected  and  honored  that  young  man. 

The  Lesson  of  Patience. 

Let  us  learn  the  lesson  of  patience.  “  Behold  the 
husbandman  waiteth  for  the  precious  fruit  of  the  earth, 
and  hath  long  patience  for  it,  until  he  receive  the  early 
and  latter  rain.”  Delay  does  not  mean  denial.  Too 


50 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


often  one  generation  sows  and  another  has  to  reap. 
God  is  a  jealous  God,  “  visiting  the  iniquity  of  the 
fathers  upon  the  children  unto  the  third  and  fourth  gen¬ 
eration  of  them  that  hate  ”  Him. 

In  the  early  years  of  Israel’s  existence  as  a  separate 
people,  God  commanded  them  to  give  the  land  of 
Canaan  rest  every  seventh  year. 

“  Six  years  thou  shalt  sow  thy  land,  and  shalt  gather 
in  the  fruits  thereof:  but  the  seventh  year  thou  shalt 
let  it  rest  and  lie  still;  that  the  poor  of  thy  people  may 
eat,  and  what  they  leave  the  beasts  of  the  field  shall 
eat.  In  like  manner  thou  shalt  deal  with  thy  vine¬ 
yard,  and  with  thy  olive  yard.  ”  From  the  anointing  of 
Saul  to  be  king  this  law  was  not  observed.  After 
four  hundred  and  ninety  years  God  gave  the  nation 
into  captivity  for  seventy  years.  During  this  period 
the  land  had  rest;  seventy  sabbath  years  to  compen¬ 
sate  for  the  sabbath  years  of  which  it  had  been  de¬ 
prived.  Those  Israelites  sowed  the  bitter  seed  of  dis¬ 
obedience,  and  their  descendants  had  to  reap  the 
harvest  in  exile  and  captivity. 

A  leading  surgeon  performed  a  critical  operation 
before  his  class  one  day.  The  operation  was  success¬ 
ful,  as  far  as  his  part  was  concerned.  But  he  turned 
to  the  class  and  said:  “  Six  years  ago  a  wise  way  of 
living  might  have  prevented  this  disease.  Two  years 
ago  a  safe  and  simple  operation  might  have  cured  it. 
We  have  done  our  best  to-day  as  the  case  now  stands, 
but  Nature  will  have  her  word  to  say.  She  does  not 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


51 


always  repeal  her  capital  sentences.”  Next  day  the 
patient  died,  reaping  the  fruit  of  his  excesses. 

Paul  says:  “  Let  us  not  be  weary  in  well-doing; 
in  due  season  we  shall  reap  if  we  faint  not.” 

In  a  recent  chat  with  an  interviewer,  Mr.  Edison 
quite  unconsciously  preached  a  most  powerful  sermon 
on  perseverance  and  patience. 

He  described  his  repeated  efforts  to  make  the 
phonograph  reproduce  the  aspirated  sound,  and 
added:  “  From  eighteen  to  twenty  hours  a  day  for  . 
the  last  seven  months  I  have  worked  on  this  single 
word  ‘specia.’  I  said  into  the  phonograph,  ‘  specia,  \ 
specia,  specia,’  but  the  instrument  responded,  ‘  pecia,  ] 
pecia,  pecia.’  It  was  enough  to  drive  one  mad!  But 
I  held  firm,  and  I  have  succeeded.” 

An  insurance  case  was  brought  to  Daniel  Webster  \ 
when  he  was  a  young  lawyer  in  Portsmouth.  Only  a 
small  amount  was  involved,  and  a  twenty-dollar  fee  was 
all  that  was  promised.  He  saw  that  to  do  his  client  full 
justice,  a  journey  to  Boston  would  be  desirable,  in  order 
to  consult  the  law  library.  He  would  be  out  of  pocket 
by  the  expedition,  and  for  the  time  he  would  receive 
no  adequate  compensation.  But  he  determined  to  do 
his  best,  cost  what  it  might.  He  accordingly  went  to 
Boston  and  looked  up  the  authorities,  and  gained  the 
case. 

Years  after,  Webster,  who  had  meanwhile  become 
famous,  was  passing  through  New  York.  An  import¬ 
ant  insurance  case  was  to  be  tried  that  day,  and  one 


52 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


of  the  counsel  had  suddenly  been  taken  ill.  Money 
was  no  object,  and  Webster  was  begged  to  name  his 
terms  and  conduct  the  case. 

“  I  told  them,”  said  Mr.  Webster,  “  that  it  was 
preposterous  to  expect  me  to  prepare  a  legal  argument 
at  a  few  hours’  notice.  They  insisted,  however,  that 
I  should  look  at  the  papers;  and  this  I  finally  con¬ 
sented  to  do.  It  was  my  old  twenty-dollar  case  over 
again;  and  as  I  never  forget  anything,  I  had  all  the 
authorities  at  my  fingers’  ends.  The  court  knew  that 
I  had  no  time  to  prepare,  and  were  astonished  at  the 
range  of  my  acquirements.  So  you  see,  I  was  hand¬ 
somely  repaid  both  in  fame  and  money  for  that  jour¬ 
ney  to  Boston;  and  the  moral  is  that  good  work  is  re¬ 
warded  in  the  end.” 

Two  men  were  digging  in  California  for  gold.  They 
worked  a  good  deal  and  got  nothing.  At  last  one  of 
them  threw  down  his  tools  and  said: 

“  I  will  leave  here  before  we  starve  ”  ;  and  he  left. 

The  next  day  his  comrade’s  patience  was  rewarded 
by  finding  a  nugget  that  supported  him  until  he  made 
a  fortune. 

“  Because  sentence  against  an  evil  work  is  not  ex¬ 
ecuted  speedily,  therefore  the  heart  of  the  sons  of 
men  is  fully  set  in  them  to  do  evil.  Though  a  sinner 
do  evil  an  hundred  times,  and  his  days  be  prolonged, 
yet  surely  1  know  that  it  shall  be  well  with  them  that 
fear  God,  which  fear  before  Him;  but  it  shall  not  be 
well  with  the  wicked,  neither  shall  he  prolong  his  days, 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


53 


which  are  as  a  shadow;  because  he  feareth  not  before 
God.” 

The  idea  that  because  a  person  does  a  thing  in  the 
dark  it  will  never  be  brought  to  light,  is  fatal — God 
says  it  shall  be  brought  to  light.  It  is  felly  for  a  man 
who  has  covered  his  sins  to  think  there  shall  be  no 
resurrection  of  them  and  no  final  adjudication.  Look  at 
the  sons  of  Jacob.  They  sold  Joseph  and  deceived 
their  father.  Twenty  long  years  rolled  away,  and 
away  down  to  Egypt  their  sin  followed  them;  for  they 
said:  “We  are  guilty  of  the  blood  of  our  brother.” 
The  reaping  time  had  come  at  last,  for  those  ten  boys 
who  sold  their  brother. 

I  was  once  preaching  in  Chicago,  and  a  woman 
who  was  nearly  out  of  her  mind  came  to  me.  You 
know  there  are  some  people  who  mock  at  religious 
meetings,  and  say  that  religion  drives  people  mad.  It 
is  sin  that  drives  people  mad.  It  is  the  want  of  Christ 
that  sinks  people  into  despair.  This  was  the  woman’s 
story:  She  had  a  family  of  children.  One  of  her 
neighbors  had  died,  and  her  husband  had  brought 
home  a  little  child.  She  said,  “  I  don’t  want  the  child,” 
but  her  husband  said,  “  You  must  take  it  and  look 
after  it.”  She  said  she  had  enough  to  do  with  her 
own,  and  she  told  her  husband  to  take  that  child  away. 
But  he  would  not.  She  confessed  that  she  tried  to 
starve  the  child;  but  it  lingered  on.  One  night  it  cried 
all  night;  I  suppose  it  wanted  food.  At  last  she  took 
the  clothes  and  threw  them  over  the  child,  and  smoth- 


54 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


ered  it.  No  one  saw  her;  no  one  knew  anything  about 
it.  The  child  was  buried.  Years  had  passed  away; 
and  she  said,  “  I  hear  the  voice  of  that  child  day  and 
night.  It  has  driven  me  nearly  mad.”  No  one  saw 
the  act;  but  God  had  seen  it,  and  this  retribution  fol¬ 
lowed  it.  History  is  full  of  these  things.  You  need 
not  go  to  the  Bible  to  find  it  out. 


A  MAN  EXPECTS  TO  REAP 
THE  SAME  KIND  AS  HE  SOWS. 


‘  ‘  Herb  yielding  seed  after  his  kind^  and  the  tree  yielding  fruit 
.  .  .  after  his  kmd.'" — Gen.  i:  12. 

men  gather  grafes  of  thorns^  or  figs  of  thistles  — Matt. 

vii:  16. 

“  For  if  ye  live  after  the  flesh,  ye  shall  die:  but  if  ye  through 
the  spirit  do  7nortify  the  deeds  of  the  body,  ye  shall  live." — 
Romans  viii:  13, 


CHAPTER  IV. 


A  Man  Expects  to  Reap  the  Same  Kind  as  He  Sows. 

If  I  should  tell  you  that  I  sowed  ten  acres  of  wheat 
last  year  and  that  watermelons  came  up,  or  that  I  sowed 
cucumbers  and  gathered  turnips,  you  wouldn’t  believe 
it.  It  is  a  fixed  law  that  you  reap  the  same  kind  of 
seed  you  sow.  Plant  wheat  and  you  reap  wheat,  plant 
an  acorn  and  there  comes  up  an  oak, .plant  a  little  elm 
and  in  time  you  have  a  big  elm. 

One  day,  the  master  of  Lukman,  an  Eastern  fabul¬ 
ist,  said  to  him,  “  Go  into  such  a  field,  and  sow  bar¬ 
ley.  ”  Lukman  sowed  oats  instead.  At  the  time  of 
harvest  his  master  went  to  the  place,  and,  seeing  the 
green  oats  springing  up,  asked  him: 

“  Did  I  not  tell  you  to  sow  barley  here  ?  Why, 
then,  have  you  sown  oats  ?  ” 

He  answered,  “  I  sowed  oats  in  the  hope  that  barley 
would  grow  up.” 

His  master  said,  “  What  foolish  idea  is  this  ?  Have 
you  ever  heard  of  the  like  ?  ” 

Lukman  replied,  “  You  yourself  are  constantly  sow¬ 
ing  in  the  field  of  the  world  the  seeds  of  evil,  and  yet 
expect  to  reap  in  the  resurrection  day  the  fruits  of 
virtue.  Therefore  I  thought,  also,  I  might  get  barley 
by  sowing  oats.” 


58 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


The  master  was  abashed  at  the  reply  and  set  Luk- 
man  free. 

Like  produces  like  in  vegetation,  and  like  produces 
like  in  labor.  If  a  man  has  learnt  the  trade  of  a  car¬ 
penter,  he  does  not  expect  to  excel  as  a  watchmaker. 
If  he  has  toiled  hard  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  the  law, 
he  does  not  expect  to  practice  medicine  for  a  liveli¬ 
hood.  Men  expect  to  reap  in  the  same  line  as  they 
have  learned. 

This  law  is  just  as  true  in  God’s  kingdom  as  in  man’s 
kingdom;  just  as  true  in  the  spiritual  world  as  in  the 
natural  world.  If  I  sow  tares,  I  am  going  to  reap 
tares;  if  I  sow  a  lie,  I  am  going  to  reap  lies;  if  I  sow 
adultery  I  am  going  to  reap  adulterers;  if  I  sow  whisky, 
I  am  going  to  reap  drunkards.  You  cannot  blot  this 
law  out,  it  is  in  force.  No  other  truth  in  the  Bible  is 
more  solemn. 

Suppose  that  a  neighbor,  whom  I  don’t  want  to  see, 
comes  to  my  house  and  I  tell  my  son  to  tell  him,  if  he 
asks  for  me,  that  I  am  out  of  town.  He  goes  to  the 
door  and  lies  to  my  neighbor  ;  it  will  not  be  six 
months  before  that  boy  will  lie  to  me  ;  I  will  reap 
that  lie. 

A  man  said  to  me  spme  time  ago,  “  Why  is  it  that 
we  can  not  get  honest  clerks  now  t  ” 

I  replied,  “  I  don’t  know,  but  perhaps  I  can  imagine 
a  reason.  When  merchants  teach  clerks  to  say  that 
goods  are  all  wool  when  they  are  half  cotton,  and  to 
adulterate  groceries  and  say  they  are  pure,  when  they 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


59 


grind  up  white  marble  and  put  it  into  pulverized 
sugar,  and  the  clerk  knows  it,  you  will  not  have  hon¬ 
est  clerks.  ” 

As  long  as  merchants  teach  their  clerks  to  lie  and 
to  misrepresent,  to  put  a  French  or  an  English  tag  on 
domestic  goods  and  sell  them  for  imported  goods,  so 
long  they  will  have  dishonest  clerks.  Dishonest 
merchants  make  dishonest  clerks.  I  am  not  talk¬ 
ing  fiction,  I  am  talking  truth.  It  is  not  poetry,  but 
solemn  prose  that  a  man  must  reap  the  same  kind  of 
seed  that  he  sows. 

This  is  a  tremendous  argument  against  selling  liquor. 
Leaving  out  the  temperance  and  religious  aspects  of 
the  question,  no  man  on  earth  can  afford  to  sell 
strong  drink.  If  I  sell  liquor  to  your  son  and  make 
a  drunkard  of  him,  some  man  will  sell  liquor  to  my 
son  and  make  a  drunkard  of  him.  Every  man  who 
sells  liquor  has  a  drunken  son  or  a  drunken  brother  or 
some  drunken  relative.  Where  are  the  sons  of  liquor 
dealers  t  To  whom  are  their  daughters  married  } 
Look  around  and  see  if  you  can  find  a  man  who  has 
been  in  that  business  twenty  years  who  has  not  a 
skeleton  in  his  own  family. 

I  threw  that  challenge  down  once,  and  a  man  said 
to  me  the  next  day,  “  I  wasn’t  at  your  meeting  last 
night,  but  I  understand  you  made  the  astounding 
statement  that  no  man  had  been  in  the  liquor  busi¬ 
ness  twenty  years  who  hadn’t  the  curse  in  his  own 
family." 


60 


SOWING  AND  DEAPING 


“  Yes,  ”  I  said,  “  I  did.  ” 

“  It  isn’t  true,  ”  he  said,  “  and  I  want  you  to  take 
it  back.  My  father  was  a  rumseller,  and  I  am  a  rum- 
seller,  and  the  curse  has  never  come  into  my  father’s 
family  or  into  mine.  ” 

I  said,  “  What  !  two  generations  selling  that  infernal 
stuff,  and  the  curse  has  never  come  into  the  family  ! 
I  will  investigate  it,  and  if  I  find  I  am  wrong  I  will 
make  the  retraction  just  as  publicly  as  I  did  the  state¬ 
ment.  ” 

There  were  two  prominent  citizens  of  the  town  in 
the  room,  on  whose  faces  I  noticed  a  peculiar  expres¬ 
sion  as  the  man  was  talking.  After  he  left,  one  of 
them  said: 

“  Do  you  know,  Mr.  Moody,  that  man’s  own  brother 
was  a  drunkard  and  committed  suicide  a  few  weeks 
ago  and  left  a  widow  with  seven  children  ;  they  are 
under  his  roof  now  !  He  was  a  terrible  drunkard  him¬ 
self  until  the  shock  of  his  brother’s  suicide  cured 
him.  ” 

I  don’t  know  how  you  can  account  for  it  unless  he 
thought  his  brother  wasn’t  a  relative.  Perhaps  he 
was  a  sort  of  a  Cainite,  saying,  “  Am  I  my  brother’s 
keeper 

When  I  was  a  pastor  of  a  church  in  Chicago  we  were 
trying  to  get  hold  of  the  working-men.  They  used  to 
say: 

“  Come  down  to  the  factory  at  dinner-time  and  we 
will  give  you  a  chance  to  speak.” 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


61 


I  would  ask  them,  “  Why  won’t  you  come  to  the 
church  ?  ” 

“  Oh,”  they  would  say,  “  you  have  it  all  your  own 
way  there,  and  we  can’t  answer  back;  but  come  to  the 
factory  and  we  will  put  a  few  questions  to  you.” 

So  I  went  down,  and  they  made  it  pretty  hot  for  me 
sometimes.  One  of  the  favorite  characters  that  they 
brought  up  was  Jacob.  Many  a  time  I  have  had  men 
say,  “  You  think  Jacob  was  a  saint,  don’t  you  He 
was  a  big  rascal.”  Many  have  said  they  thought 
Jacob  wasn’t  as  good  as  Esau.  Notice  this  fact. 
You  read  in  the  Bible,  “  I  will  punish  Jacob  according 
to  his  doings.”  This  law  of  retribution  runs  through 
his  life;  although  he  was  a  friend  of  God,  a  kinsman 
of  Abraham,  .and  was  third  in  the  line  of  the  cove¬ 
nant,  yet  God  made  Jacob  reap  the  same  kind  of  seed 
he  sowed.  Some  one  has  said  that  “  Jacob’s  mis¬ 
fortunes  were  uniformly  calculated  to  bring  back  to 
his  recollection  the  picture  as  well  as  the  punishment 
of  his  faults.” 

When  Isaac  in  his  old  age  wanted  some  venison, 
and  sent  Esau  out  to  get  it,  Jacob  slipped  out  and 
took  a  kid  from  his  father’s  flock,  and  Rebekah,  his 
mother,  cooked  it;  he  brought  it  to  his  old  blind 
father  and  said  he  was  Esau.  The  old  man  recog¬ 
nized  his  voice,  but  he  had  very  cunningly  put  the 
skin  of  the  kid  on  his  hands  and  neck;  so  that  the  old 
man  felt  him  and  said: 


62 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


“  The  voice  is  Jacob’s  voice,  but  the  hands  are 
the  hands  of  Esau.” 

By  this  lie  he  got  his  brother’s  birthright  blessing, 
but  he  paid  ten  thousand  times  more  for  it  than  it  was 
worth.  “  Who  steals  my  purse  steals  trash.  ”  A  man 
who  steals  my  pocketbook  is  the  chief  sufferer,  not  I. 
When  Jacob  had  grown  to  be  an  old  man,  he  lived 
in  continual  suspicion  that  his  sons  were  deceiving 
him.  The  sin  of  deceiving  his  own  father  bore  fruit. 

Jacob  was  the  great  loser  in  this  transaction. 
When  Esau  returned  he  had  to  flee  for  his  life.  Then 
God  met  him  at  Bethel.  “  And  behold,  the  Lord 
stood  above  it  and  said,  I  am  the  Lord  God  of  Abra¬ 
ham  thy  father,  and  the  God  of  Isaac:  the  land 
whereon  thou  liest,  to  thee  will  I  give  it,  and  to  thy 
seed:  and  thy  seed  shall  be  as  the  dust  of  the  earth: 
and  thou  shalt  spread  abroad  to  the  west  and  to  the 
east  and  to  the  north  and  to  the  south,  and  in  thee 
and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be 
blessed. 

“  And,  behold,  I  am  with  thee,  and  will  keep  thee  in 
all  places  whither  thou  goest,  and  will  bring  thee 
again  unto  this  land,  for  I  will  not  leave  thee,  until  I 
have  done  that  which  I  have  spoken  to  thee  of.” 

Men  will  read  that  far  in  the  life  of  Jacob  and  say, 
“  I  don’t  want  anything  more  to  do  with  a  God  who  will 
deal  in  grace  with  a  man  who  had  done  so  mean  a 
thing.”  My  friend,  hold  on.  Follow  him  to  Padan- 
aram.  He  was  there  twenty  years,  and  during  that 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


63 


time  his  wages  were  changed  ten  times.  He  worked 
seven  years  for  the  lovely  Rachel,  and  then  had  an¬ 
other  woman  put  upon  him.  Jacob  had  by  deception 
obtained  the  blessing  of  the  first-born  son,  but  Laban 
sarcastically  reminded  him,  “  It  must  not  be  so  done  in 
my  country  to  give  the  younger  before  the  first-born.” 
He  found  that  Laban  could  drive  as  sharp  a  bargain 
as  he.  Wherever  you  find  a  sharp,  shrewd  man,  you 
will  always  find  that  he  draws  just  such  men  around 
him,  and  that  he  who  cheats  will  himself  be  cheated. 
“  Birds  of  a  feather  flock  together  ”  ;  blasphemers  get 
together,  and  sharp,  shrewd  men  get  together.  Jacob 
found  in  Laban  just  such  a  man  as  himself.  It  was 
“  diamond  cut  diamond.” 

Look  a  little  further.  Jacob  had  twelve  sons,  but 
he  loved  Joseph  and  Benjamin  more  than  the  others 
because  they  were  the  sons  of  his  beloved  Rachel. 
He  was  partial  to  Joseph,  and  had  a  coat  made  of 
many  colors  for  him.  Partiality  will  raise  the  old 
Adam  in  any  family. 

One  morning  Joseph,  in  the  innocence  of  his  heart, 
tells  a  dream  in  which  his  father  and  all  his  brothers 
had  bowed  down  to  him.  Then  his  brothers  began  to 
plan  to  get  him  out  of  the  way,  and  when  his  father 
sent  him  to  find  them  when  they  were  tending  the 
flocks,  they  said: 

“  Now  we  have  him;  let  us  slay  him  and  cast  him 
into  a  pit,  and  say  that  some  beast  has  devoured 
him.” 


64 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


Later  they  sold  him,  and  took  his  coat  of  many 
colors  and  dipped  it  in  the  blood  of  a  kid,  and,  taking 
it  to  their  father,  said:  “  This  have  we  found;  know 
now  whether  it  be  thy  son’s  coat  or  no.”  And  he 
knew  it  and  said,  “  It  is  my  son’s  coat;  an  evil  beast 
hath  devoured  him.” 

Now  notice:  Jacob  deceived  his  father  with  the  skin 
of  a  kid,  and  his  sons  deceived  him  with  the  blood  of 
a  kid.  Jacob  lied  to  his  father,  and  his  sons  lied  to 
him.  The  lie  came  home.  Every  lie  is  bound  to 
come  back  to  you.  You  cannot  dig  a  grave  so  deep 
but  that  it  will  have  a  resurrection.  Tramp,  tramp, 
your  sins  will  all  come  back. 

“  Be  sure  your  sin  will  find  you  out.’'  You  may 
think  you  are  very  shrewd  and  far-sighted,  and  can 
plan  and  cover  up,  but  it  is  the  decree  of  high  heaven 
that  no  sin  shall  be  covered;  God  will  uncover  it. 
You  cannot  deceive  the  Almighty.  Jacob  found  that 
out.  He  had  to  reap  what  he  sowed. 

Again,  look  at  David.  A  man  said  to  me  some 
years  ago: 

“  Don’t  you  think  David  fell  as  low  as  Saul  ?  ” 

Yes,  he  fell  lower,  because  God  had  lifted  him 
higher.  The  difference  is  that  when  Saul  fell  there 
was  no  sign  of  repentance,  but  when  David  fell,  a 
wail  went  up  from  his  broken  heart;  there  was  true 
repentance.  No  man  in  all  the  Scripture  record  rose 
so  high  and  fell  so  low  as  David.  God  took  him  from 
the  sheepfold  and  placed  him  on  the  throne.  He  gave 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


65 


him  riches  and  lands  in  abundance.  He  was  on  a 
pinnacle  of  glory,  and  was  loved  and  honored  among 
men.  But  one  day,  you  remember,  David  was  walk¬ 
ing  upon  the  roof  of  the  king’s  house,  and  he  saw 
Bathsheba,  and  lusted  after  her,  and  committed  the 
awful  sin  of  adultery;  and  then,  to  cover  up  that  sin, 
he  made  Bathsheba’s  husband  drunk,  and  had  him 
murdered.  The  decree  came:  “  I  will  raise  up  evil 
in  thy  family  and  the  sword  shall  never  leave  thy 
house.”  Amnon,  David’s  son,  commits  adultery  with 
David’s  own  daughter.  Absalom  makes  a  feast  for 
Amnon  and  has  him  murdered.  Not  long  after  he 
comes  with  an  army  to  drive  David,  his  father,  from 
the  throne,  and  publicly  commits  adultery  with  David’s 
concubines  on  the  roof  of  the  king’s  house;  if  God  had 
not  been  overruling,  he  would  have  killed  his  father. 

David  sowed  adultery  and  reaped  it  in  his  own 
family.  He  sowed  murder  and  reaped  it  in  his  own 
family.  I  believe  that  what  brought  the  bitter  wail 
from  that  father’s  heart  when  he  said,  “  Oh,  my  son 
Absalom,  my  son,  my  son  Absalom  !  Would  God 
I  had  died  for  thee,”  was  the  fact  that  these  were 
the  wages  of  his  own  sin.  From  the  time  he  fell  into 
that  sin  with  Uriah’s  wife  until  he  went  down  to  his 
grave,  it  was  one  billow  after  another  rolling  over 
him. 

If  God  did  not  spare  David,  do  you  think  He  will 
spare  us  if  we  fall  into  sin  and  do  not  confess  and  turn 
from  our  sins  }  If  ever  a  man  had  an  apportunity  to 


66 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


cover  his  sins,  David  had.  No  judge  or  jury  dared  to 
pronounce  judgment  against  him.  The  thing  was 
done  in  the  dark,  but  his  sin  found  him  out.  Nathan 
was  sent  across  his  path,  and,  young  man,  Nathan 
will  appear  to  you  some  day.  Some  messenger  will 
smite  you  in  the  way  if  you  do  not  repent  and  turn 
from  your  sins.  My  friend,  why  not  call  on  God  now 
as  David  did  when  he  came  to  himself }  make  the  same 
prayer — how  thankful  we  should  be  that  we  have  the 
prayer  !  why  not  make  it  on  your  knees  now  ? 

David’s  Prayer  for  Forgiveness. 

“  Have  mercy  upon  me,  O  God,  according  to  thy 
loving  kindness:  according  unto  the  multitude  of  thy 
tender  mercies  blot  out  my  transgressions. 

Wash  me  thoroughly  from  mine  iniquity,  and  cleanse 
me  from  my  sin.  For  I  acknowledge  my  transgres¬ 
sions;  and  my  sin  is  ever  before  me. 

Against  thee,  thee  only,  have  I  sinned,  and  done 
this  evil  in  thy  sight;  that  thou  mightest  be  justified 
when  thou  speakest,  and  be  clear  when  thou  judgest. 

Behold,  I  was  shapen  in  iniquity;  and  in  sin  did  my 
mother  conceive  me. 

Behold,  thou  desirest  truth  in  the  inward  parts; 
and  in  the  hidden  part  thou  shalt  make  me  to  know 
wisdom. 

Purge  me  with  hyssop,  and  I  shall  be  clean;  wash 
me,  and  I  shall  be  whiter  than  snow. 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


67 


Make  me  to  hear  joy  and  gladness;  that  the  bones 
which  thou  hast  broken  may  rejoice. 

Hide  thy  face  from  my  sins,  and  blot  out  all  mine 
iniquities. 

Create  in  me  a  clean  heart,  O  God,*  and  renew  a 
right  spirit  within  me. 

Cast  me  not  away  from  thy  presence;  and  take  not 
thy  Holy  Spirit  from  me. 

Restore  unto  me  the  joy  of  thy  salvation;  and  up¬ 
hold  me  with  thy  free  Spirit. 

Then  will*!  teach  transgressors  thy  ways;  and  sin¬ 
ners  shall  be  converted  unto  thee. 

Deliver  me  from  bloodguiltiness,  O  God,  thou  God 
of  my  salvation;  and  my  tongue  shall  sing  aloud  of  thy 
righteousness. 

O  Lord,  open  thou  my  lips;  and  my  mouth  shall 
shew  forth  thy  praise. 

For  thou  desirest  not  sacrifice;  else  would  I  give  it; 
thou  delightest  not  in  burnt  offering.  The  sacrifices 
of  God  are  a  broken  spirit:  a  broken  and  a  contrite 
heart,  O  God,  thou  wilt  not  despise.” 

Examples  From  History. 

But  you  say  you  don’t  believe  in  the  Bible.  Then 
look  at  history,  and  see  if  this  law  is  not  true.  Max- 
entine  built  a  false  bridge  to  drown  Constantine,  but 
was  drowned  himself.  Bajazet  was  carried  about  by 
Tamerlane  in  an  iron  cage  which  he  intended  for  Tam- 


68 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


erlane.  Maximinus  put  out  the  eyes  of  thousands  of 
Christians  ;  soon  after  a  fearful  disease  of  the  eyes 
broke  out  among  his  people,  of  which  he  himself  died 
in  great  agony.  Valens  caused  about  eighty  Christians 
to  be  sent  to  sea  in  a  ship  and  burnt  alive:  he  was  de¬ 
feated  by  the  Goths  and  fled  to  a  cottage,  where  he 

* 

was  burnt  alive. 

Alexander  VI.  was  poisoned  by  wine  he  had  pre¬ 
pared  for  another.  Henry  III.  of  France  was  stabbed 
in  the  same  chamber  where  he  had  helped  to  contrive 
the  cruel  massacre  of  French  Protestants.  Marie  An¬ 
toinette,  riding  to  Notre  Dame  Cathedral  for  her  bri¬ 
dal,  bade  the  soldiers  command  all  beggars,  cripples, 
and  ragged  people  to  leave  the  line  of  the  procession. 
She  could  not  endure  the  sight  of  these  miserable  ones. 
Soon  after,  bound  in  the  executioner’s  cart,  she  was 
riding  toward  the  place  of  execution  amidst  crowds 
who  gazed  on  her  with  hearts  as  cold  as  ice  and  hard 
as  granite.  When  Foulon  was  asked  how  the  starving 
populace  was  to  live,  he  said:  “  Let  them  eat  grass.” 
Afterward,  the  mob,  maddened  with  rage,  caught  him 
in  the  streets  of  Paris,  hung  him,  stuck  his  head  upon 
a  pike  and  filled  his  mouth  with  grass. 


A  MAN  REAPS  MORE  THAN 

HE  SOWS. 


But  other  fell  into  good  ground^  -and  brought  forth  fruity 
some  a  hundredfold^  some  sixtyfold,  some  thirty  fold." — Matt, 
xiii:  8. 


CHAPTER  V. 


A  Man  Reaps  More  Than  He  Sows. 

If  I  sow  a  bushel,  I  expect  to  reap  ten  or  twenty 
bushels.  I  can  sow  in  one  day  what  will  take  ten  men 
to  reap.  The  Spaniards  have  this  proverb:  “  Sow  a 
thought  and  reap  an  act.  Sow  an  act,  and  reap  a 
habit.  Sow  a  habit,  and  reap  a  character.  Sow  a 
character  and  reap  a  destiny.”  And  it  takes  a  longer 
time  to  reap  than  to  sow.  I  have  heard  of  a  certain 
kind  of  bean  that  reproduces  itself  a  thousand  fold. 
One  thistle-down  which  blew  from  the  deck  of  a  vessel 
is  said  to  have  covered  with  thistles  the  entire  surface 
of  a  South  Sea  island.  The  oak  springs  from  an  acorn, 
the  mighty  Mississippi  from  a  little  spring. 

One  glass  of  whisky  may  lead  to  a  drunkard’s  death. 
One  lie  may  ruin  a  man’s  career.  One  error  in  youth 
may  follow  a  man  all  through  life.  Some  one  has  said 
that  many  a  Christian  spends  half  his  time  trying  to 
keep  down  the  sprouts  of  seed  sown  in  his  young  days. 
Unless  it  is  held  in  check,  the  desire  to  “  have  a  drink  ” 
will  become  a  consuming  thirst;  the  desire  to  “  play  a 
game  of  cards”  an  irresistible  gambler’s  passion. 

Abraham  gave  up  his  only  son  at  God’s  bidding,  and 
as  the  fruit  of  that  act  of  obedience  God  gave  him  seed 


72 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


as  numerous  as  the  stars  of  the  heaven  and  as  the 
sands  upon  the  seashore. 

Jacob  told  one  lie,  and  his  ten  sons  came  back  with 
his  lie  multiplied  tenfold.  For  twenty  years  Jacob 
mourned  for  Joseph,  supposing  that  he  was  dead.  I 
have  no  doubt  that  night  after  night  he  wept  for  Joseph, 
and  in  his  dreams  saw  the  boy  torn  to  pieces,  and 
heard  his  cries  for  help.  It  took  him  a  long  time  to 
reap  the  harvest. 

Israel  murmured  against  God  because  of  the  report 
of  the  land  of  Canaan  brought  back  by  the  spies.  Had 
they  not  to  reap  a  multiplied  harvest }  Listen:  “  After 
the  number  of  the  days  in  which  3’e  searched  the  land, 
even  forty  days,  each  day  for  a  year,  shall  ye  bear 
your  iniquities,  even  forty  years,  and  ye  shall  know  my 
breach  of  promise.” 

When  I  made  the  remark  in  a  meeting  once  that  a 
man  had  to  reap  more  than  he  sowed,  a  man  in  front 
of  me  dropped  his  head  and  sobbed  aloud.  After  the 
meeting,  a  friend  stepped  up  to  him  and  said: 

“  What  is  your  trouble  V 

Pointing  to  me  he  said,  “  Every  word  that  man  has 
been  saying  is  true.  Four  years  ago  I  was  the  con¬ 
fidential  clerk  of  a  firm  in  this  city.  I  have  reason  to 
believe  that  if  I  had  continued  as  I  began,  I  should 
have  been  in  the  firm  now.  But  one  night  in  a  sa¬ 
loon  under  the  influence  of  drink  I  committed  a  crime, 
and  I  was  sent  to  the  penitentiary,  where  I  repented 
in  sackcloth  and  ashes.  To-day  I  came  back  for  the 


SOW' TNG  AND  REAPING 


73 


first  time,  and  went  to  the  old  house,  and  they  ordered 
me  out.  I  went  to  other  business-houses  I  was  ac¬ 
quainted  with,  and  received  the  same  treatment.  I 
met  men  on  the  street  whom  I  once  knew,  who  had 
held  inferior  places  to  me,  and  I  lifted  my  hat,  but  no 
one  returned  the  bow.” 

The  man  wrung  his  hands  in  agony  and  said,  “  It 
is  all  true,  it  takes  a  longer  time  to  reap  than  to 
sow.” 

Do  you  not  believe  it }  Ask  your  neighbor  who  has 
drank  up  his  character  and  reputation  and  home,  and 
has  brought  a  blight  on  his  family.  It  takes  a  long 
time  to  build  up  a  character,  but  you  can  blast  it  in  a 
single  hour. 

A  man  died  in  the  Columbus  penitentiary  some  years 
ago  who  had  spent  over  thirty  years  in  his  cell. 
He  was  one  of  the  millionaires  of  Ohio.  Fifty 
years  ago  when  they  were  trying  to  get  a  trunk 
road  from  Chicago  to  New  York,  they  wanted 
to  lay  the  line  through  his  farm  near  Cleveland.  He 
did  not  want  his  farm  divided  by  the  railroad,  so  the 
case  went  into  court,  where  commissioners  were  ap¬ 
pointed  to  pay  the  damages  and  to  allow  the  road  to 
be  built.  One  dark  night  after  the  tracks  were  laid, 
a  train  was  thrown  off  the  track,  and  several  were 
killed.  This  man  was  suspected,  was  tried  and  found 
guilty,  and  was  sent  to  the  penitentiary  for  life.  The 
farm  was  soon  cut  up  into  city  lots,  and  the  man  be¬ 
came  a  millionaire,  but  he  got  no  benefit  from  it.  Be- 


74 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


fore  he  died,  the  chaplain  told  me  that  he  became  a 
child  of  God.  It  may  not  have  taken  him  more  than 
an  hour  to  lay  the  obstruction  on  the  railroad,  but  he 
was  over  thirty  years  reaping  the  result  of  that  one 
act! 

In  the  history  of  France  we  read  that  a  certain  king 
wanted  some  new  instrument  to  torture  his  prisoners 
with.  One  of  his  favorites  suggested  that  he  should 
build  a  cage,-  not  long  enough  to  lie  down  in,  and  not 
high  enough  to  stand  up  in.  The  king  accepted  the 
suggestion;  but  the  first  one  put  into  the  cage  was  the 
very  man  who  suggested  it,  and  he  was  kept  in  it  for 
fourteen  years.  It  did  not  take  him  more  than  a 
few  minutes,  perhaps,  to  suggest  that  cruel  device;  but 
he  was  fourteen  long  years  reaping  the  fruit  of  what 
he  had  sown. 

If  a  man  could  do  his  reaping  alone,  it  would  not  be 
so  hard;  but  it  is  terrible  when  he  has  to  make  that 
godly  father,  and  that  mother  who  loves  him,  or  that 
wife  and  family,  reap  along  with  him  Does  not  the 
drunkard  make  his  wife  and  children  reap  a  bitter  har¬ 
vest  }  Does  not  the  gambler  make  his  relatives  reap  } 
Does  not  the  harlot  make  her  parents  reap  agony  and 
shame }  What  a  bitter  enemy  is  sin  I  May  God  help 
each  one  of  us  to  turn  from  it  at  once  1 

Whenever  I  hear  a  young  man  talking  in  a  flippant 
way  about  sowing  his  wild  oats,  I  don’t  laugh.  I  feel 
more  like  crying,  because  I  know  he  is  going  to  make 
his  gray-haired  mother  reap  in  tears;  he  is  going  to 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


75 


make  his  wife  reap  in  shame;  he  is  going  to  make  his 
old  father  and  his  innocent  children  reap  with  him. 
Only  ten  or  fifteen  or  twenty  years  will  pass  before  he 
will  have  to  reap  his  wild  oats;  no  man  has  ever 
sowed  them  without  having  to  reap  them.  Sow  the 
wind  and  you  reap  the  whirlwind. 

We  cannot  control  our  influence.  If  I  plant  thistles 
in  my  field,  the  wind  will  take  the  thistle-down  when 
it  is  ready,  and  blow  it  away  beyond  the  fence;  and 
my  neighbors  will  have  to  reap  with  me.  So  my  ex¬ 
ample  may  be  copied  by  my  children  or  my  neighbors, 
and  my  actions  reproduced  indefinitely  through  them, 
whether  for  good  or  evil.  How  many  have  gone  to 
ruin  because  of  the  sins  of  such  men  as  Jacob  and 
David  and  Lot  ! 


AJyj?  aj^iAJ'jXG 


NcTEzyG  BrT  Lzaves. 


— L.  E.  AcrF.ZMAy. 


IGNORANCE  OF  THE  SEED 
MAKES  NO  DIFFERENCE. 


Mao'vel  not  at  this:  for  the  hour  is  coming-in  the  which  all 
that  are  in  the  graves  shall  hear  his  voice  ^  a7id  shall  come  forth 
they  that  have  do7ie  good;  unto  the  resurrection  of  life;  and  they 
that  have  done  evil^  utito  the  resurrection  of  c^mnation." — John 
v:  28,  29. 


CHATER  VI. 


Ignorance  of  the  Seed  Makes  no  Difference. 

Now,  notice  again:  Ignorance  of  the  kind  of  seed 
makes  no  difference.  If  I  think  I  am  sowing  good 
seed  and  it  happens  to  be  bad,  I  shall  have  a  bad 
harvest;  therefore,  it  becomes  me  to  see  what  kind  of 
seed  I  am  sowing. 

Suppose  I  meet  a  man  who  is  sowing  seed,  and 
say:  “  Hello,  stranger,  what  are  you  sowing  ?  ” 

“  Seed.” 

What  kind  of  seed  }  ” 

“  I  don’t  know.” 

“  Don’t  you  know  whether  it  is  good  or  bad  ?  ” 

“  No,  I  can’t  tell;  but  it  is  seed,  that  is  all  I  want 
to  know,  and  I  am  sowing  it.” 

You  would  say  that  he  was  a  first-class  lunatic, 
wouldn’t  you  ?  But  he  wouldn’t  be  half  so  mad  as  the 
man  who  goes  on  sowing  for  time  and  eternity,  and 
never  asks  himself  what  he  is  sowing  or  what  the 
harvest  will  be. 

Father,  what  seed  are  you  sowing  in  your  family  ? 
Are  you  setting  your  children  a  good  or  a  bad  example  ? 
Do  you  spend  your  time  at  the  saloon  or  the  club,  un¬ 
til  you  have  become  almost  a  stranger  to  them  or  are 
you  training  them  for  God  and  righteouness  ? 


80 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


The  story  is  told  that  a  man  once  said  he  would 
not  talk  to  his  son  about  religion;  the  boy  should  make 
his  own  choice  when  he  grew  up,  unprejudiced  by 
him.  The  boy  broke  his  arm,  and  when  the  doctor 
was  setting  it,  he  cursed  and  swore  the  whole  time. 

“Ah,”  said  the  doctor,  “you  were  afraid  to 
prejudice  the  boy  in  the  right  way,  but  the  devil  had 
no  such  prejudice.  He  has  led  your  son  the  other 
way.”  The  idea  that  a  father  is  to  let  his  children 
run  wild  !  Nature  alone  never  brings  forth  anything 
but  weeds. 

One  of  Coleridge’s  friends  once  objected  to  preju¬ 
dicing  the  minds  of  the  young  by  selecting  the  things, 
they  should  be  taught.  The  philosopher-poet  invited 
him  to  take  a  look  at  his  garden,  and  took  him  to 
where  a  luxuriant  growth  of  ugly  and  infragrant  weeds 
spread  themselves  over  beds  and  walks  alike. 

“  You  don’t  call  that  a  garden!  ”  said  his  friend. 

“What!”  said  Coleridge,  “would  you  have  me 
prejudice  the  ground  in  favor  of  roses  and  lilies  }  ” 

Have  you  never  noticed  the  same  thing  about  the 
mind  and  the  heart  ?  Let  a  child  be  idle,  and  Satan 
will  soon  lead  him  into  mischief.  He  must  be  looked 
after.  Those  things  that  will  help  to  develop  char¬ 
acter  must  be  selected  for  him,  and  hurtful  things 
must  be  kept  out,  just  as  industriously  as  the  farmer 
cultivates  the  useful  products  of  the  soil,  but  wages 
continual  war  on  weeds  and  all  unwholesome  growths. 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


81 


A  murderer  was  to  suffer  the  penalty  of  his  crime. 
Speaking  of  his  reckless  career,  he  said: 

“  How  could  it  be  otherwise,  when  I  had  such  bad 
training  ?  I  was  taught  these  things  from  my  youtfi. 
When  only  four  years  old  my  mother  poured  whisky 
down  my  throat  to  see  how  I  would  act.” 

On  the  morning  of  his  execution,  the  wretched 
mother  bade  good-bye  to  the  son  whom  her  influence 
had  helped  to  that  shameful  end. 

A  father  started  for  his  office  early  one  morning, 
after  a  light  fall  of  snow.  Turning,  he  saw  his  two- 
year-old  boy  endeavoring  to  put  his  tiny  feet  in  his  own 
great  footprints.  The  little  fellow  shouted:  “  Goon, 
Fse  comin,’  papa,  Tse  cornin’  yight  in  ure  tracks.” 

He  caught  the  boy  in  his  arms  and  carried  him  to 
his  mother,  and  started  again  for  his  office. 

His  habit  had  been  to  stop  on  the  way  at  a  saloon 
for  a  glass  of  liquor.  As  he  stood  upon  the  thresh¬ 
old  that  morning  he  seemed  to  hear  a  sweet  voice 
say:  “  Go  on,  Tse  cornin’,  papa,  I’se  cornin’  yight  in 
ure  tracks.” 

He  stopped,  he  hesitated,  he  looked  the  future 
squarely  in  the  face. 

‘‘  I  cannot  afford  to  make  any  tracks  I  would  be 
ashamed  or  sorry  to  have  my  boy  walk  in,”  he  said  de¬ 
cidedly,  and  turned  away. 

Father,  mother,  neighbor,  are  your  tracks  true 
Are  they  straight }  Can  you  turn  to  any  walking  be¬ 
hind  you  and  say:  “  Follow  me  as  I  follow  Christ  ”  ? 


82 


SOWING  ANN  REAPING 


Are  you  leading  the  little  ones  safe  to  the  Great 
Shepherd  ? 

The  best  time  to  sow  the  good  seed  is  before  Satan 
has  scattered  the  tares.  God  has  given  numerous 
warnings  and  instructions  to  do  it.  “  Seek  ye  first 
the  Kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness.”  “  Train 
up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go.”  “  Provoke  not 
your  children  to  wrath,  but  bring  them  up  in  the 
nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord.”  If  a  farmer 
neglects  to  plant  in  the  spring-time,  he  can  never 
recover  the  lost  opportunity:  no  more  can  you,  if  you 
neglect  yours.  Youth  is  a  seed-time,  and  if  it  is 
allowed  to  pass  without  good  seed  being  sowed,  weeds 
will  spring  up  and  choke  the  soil.  It  will  take  bitter 
toil  to  uproot  them. 

An  old  divine  said  that  when  a  good  farmer  sees  a 
weed  in  his  field  he  has  it  pulled  up.  If  it  is  taken 
early  enough,  the  blank  is  soon  filled  in,  and  the  crop 
waves  over  the  whole  field.  But  if  allowed  to  run  too 
late,  the  bald  patch  remains.  It  would  have  been 
better  if  the  weed  had  never  been  allowed  to  get  root. 

Young  man,  are  you  letting  some  secret  sin  get  the 
mastery  over  you,  binding  you  hand  and  foot }  It  is 
growing.  Every  sin  grows.  When  I  was  speaking 
to  five  thousand  children  in  Glasgow  some  years  ago, 
I  took  a  spool  of  thread  and  said  to  one  of  the  largest 
boys: 

“  Do  you  believe  I  can  bind  you  with  that  thread  }  ” 

He  laughed  at  the  idea.  I  wound  the  thread 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


83 


around  him  a  few  times,  and  he  broke  it  with  a  single 
jerk.  Then  I  wound  the  thread  around  and  around, 
and  by  and  by  I  said: 

“  Now  get  free  if  you  can.” 

He  couldn’t  move  hand  or  foot.  If  you  are  slave 
to  some  vile  habit,  you  must  either  slay  that  habit  or 
it  will  slay  you. 

My  friend,  what  kind  of  seed  are  yon  sowing?  Let 
your  mind  sweep  over  your  record  for  the  past  year. 
Have  you  been  living  a  double  life  }  Have  you  been 
making  a  profession  without  possessing  what  you  pro¬ 
fess  }  If  there  is  anything  you  detest  it  is  hypocrisy. 
Do  you  tell  me  God  doesn’t  detest  it  also  }  If  it  is  a 
right  eye  that  offends,  make  up  your  mind  that  you 
will  pluck  it  out;  or  if  it  is  a  right  hand  or  a  right 
foot,  cut  it  off.  Whatever  the  sin  is,  make  up  your 
mind  that  you  will  gain  the  victory  over  it  without 
further  delay. 

What  kind  of  seed  are  you  sowing,  my  friend,  good 
seed  or  bad  seed  }  There  will  be  a  harvest,  and  you 
are  bound  to  reap,  whether  you  want  to  or  not.  Tell 
me,  how  do  you  spend  your  spare  time  }  Telling  vile 
stories,  polluting  the  minds  of  others,  while  your  own 
mind  is  also  polluted  ?  Do  you  read  any  literature 
that  makes  your  thoughts  impure  ?  How  do  you 
spend  the  Sabbath  }  Boating,  fishing,  hunting,  or  on 
excursions  ?  Do  you  think  ministers  are  old  fogies — 
that  the  Bible  belongs  to  the  dark  ages  ?  Tell  me 
how  you  treat  your  parents,  and  I  will  tell  you  how 


84 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


your  children  will  treat  you,  A  man  was  making 
preparations  to  send  his  old  father  to  the  poorhouse, 
when  his  little  child  came  up  and  said: 

“  Papa,  when  you  are  old  shall  I  have  to  take  you 
to  the  poorhouse  W 

Do  you  never  write  home  to  your  parents  }  They 
clothed  you  and  educated  you,  and  now  do  you  spend 
your  nights  in  gambling  ?  You  say  to  your  godless 
companions  that  your  father  crammed  religion  down 
your  throat  when  you  were  a  boy.  I  have  a  great 
contempt  for  a  man  who  says  that  of  his  father  or 
mother.  They  may  have  made  a  mistake;  but  it  was 
of  the  head,  not  of  the  heart.  If  a  telegram  was  sent 
to  them  that  you  were  down  with  smallpox,  they 
would  take  the  first  train  to  come  to  you.  They 
would  willingly  take  the  disease  into  their  own  bodies 
and  die  for  you.  If  you  scoff  and  sneer  at  your  father 
and  mother  you  will  have  a  hard  harvest;  you  will 
reap  in  agony.  It  is  only  a  question  of  time.  There 
is  a  saying — 

“  The  mills  of  God  grind  slowly. 

But  they  grind  exceeding  small.” 

The  Lord  Jesus  said,  “  With  what  measure  ye  mete, 
it  shall  be  measured  to  you  again.” 

A  man  told  me  when  I  was  last  in  London  that 
England  had  the  advantage  of  America  in  one  respect. 
I  asked  how.  He  said  : 

“  We  have  more  respect  for  our  laws  in  England 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


85 


than  you  do  in  America.  You  don’t  hang  half  your 
murderers,  but  all  our  murderers  are  hanged  if  they 
can  be  proved  guilty.” 

I  said  :  “  Neither  country  hangs  its  worst  murder¬ 

ers.  If  my  son  wants  to  murder  me,  I  would  rather 
have  him  kill  me  outright  than  to  take  five  years  to 
do  it.  A  young  man  who  goes  home  late  night  after 
night,  and  when  his  mother  remonstrates,  curses  her 
gray  hairs,  and  kills  her  by  inches,  is  the  worst  sort  of 
a  murderer.” 

That  is  being  done  all  over  the  country.  You  may 
not  be  guilty  of  a  sin  as  black  and  as  foul  as  this,  but 
I  tell  you,  every  sin  grows,  and  if  you  have  sin  in  your 
heart  you  cannot  tell  where  it  will  land  you.  Noth¬ 
ing  separates  a  son  from  his  mother  or  a  man  from  his 
wife  like  sin.  The  grace  of  God  binds  men  together, 
but  sin  tears  them  apart  and  separates  them. 

Come,  my  friend,  what  kind  of  seed  are  you  sow¬ 
ing  }  What  will  the  harvest  be  }  Will  it  be  a  black 
harvest,  or  are  you  going  to  have  a  joyful  harvest } 
If  you  think  that,  when  you  have  sown  tares,  wheat 
will  come  up,  you  are  greatly  mistaken.  If  you  think 
you  can  give  a  loose  rein  to  your  passions  and  lusts, 
and  yet  have  eternal  life,  you  are  being  deceived. 
For  God  says,  “  He  that  soweth  to  his  flesh  shall  of 
the  flesh  reap  corruption;  but  he  that  soweth  to  the 
Spirit  shall  of  the  Spirit  reap  life  everlasting.” 


86 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


Choose  Carefully. 

I  beg  of  you  to  choose  carefully  your  path.  The  farmer 
is  careful  in  the  choice  of  seed.  He  does  not  want 
bad  seed  or  inferior  seed,  because  he  knows  that  such 
will  give  a  poor  crop.  He  looks  for  the  best  seed  he 
can  buy.  If  you  choose  to  sow  to  the  flesh,  you  will 
have  a  corrupted  harvest.  If  you  commit  a  sinful  deed, 
it  may  land  you  into  a  dishonored  grave. 

Choice  is  a  solemn  thing.  You  can  make  this  mo¬ 
ment  a  turning-point  in  your  life.  Once  during  the 
conquest  of  Peru,  Pizzaro’s  followers  threatened  to  de¬ 
sert  him.  They  gathered  on  the  shore  to  embark  for 
home.  Drawing  his  sword,  he  traced  a  line  with  it 
in  the  sand  from  east  to  west.  Then  turning  toward 
the  south  he  said: 

“  Friends  and  comrades,  on  that  side  are  toil, 
hunger,  nakedness,  the  drenching  storm,  and  death; 
on  this  side,  ease  and  pleasure.  There  lies  Peru  with 
all  its  riches;  here  Panama  and  its  poverty.  Choose 
each  man  as  becomes  a  brave  Castilian.  For  my 
part,  I  go  south.” 

So  saying,  he  stepped  across  the  line,  and  one  after 
another  his  comrades  followed  him,  and  the  destiny  of 
South  America  was  decided. 

Napoleon  was  once  offered  a  position  as  officer  in 
the  Turkish  artillerv.  He  declined  it;  but  had  he 
chosen  to  accept  it,  the  history  of  Europe  would  have 
been  different. 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


87 


On  your  choice  in  spiritual  things  depends  your 
eternity.  On  the  one  side  there  is  Christ;  on  the  other, 
the  world.  Between  them  you  must  choose.  Do  not 
wish  to  grow  both  wheat  and  tares.  Oh,  choose 
Christ!  Let  there  be  no  half-heartedness.  Give  Him 
your  whole  heart.  He  died  to  redeem  you  from  the 
curse  of  sin,  and  He  lives  to  save  you  from  the  power 
of  sin. 

“  No  man  can  serve  two  masters.”  You  can  not 
belong  to  two  kingdoms  at  once.  Lord  Brougham 
grew  to  be  so  fond  of  Cannes  that  he  sought  to  be  nat¬ 
uralized  as  a  Frenchman,  but  found  it  was  impossible 
to  be  both  a  peer  of  England  and  a  citizen  of  a  French 
town;  he  must  renounce  the  one  to  becorr.e  the  other. 

Now  this  is  where  the  will  comes  in.  It  is  easy  to 
follow  other  people’s  lead,  to  swim  with  the  tide;  but 
it  requires  character,  moral  back-bone,  to  stand  against 
the  current  of  popular  opinion  and  practice.  During 
the  late  war  a  deserter  came  into  the  Federal  lines 
before  Pittsburg.  He  was  asked: 

“  What  did  you  go  into  secession  for  t  ” 

His  answer  was:  “  Because  they  all  did.” 

That  reason  will  account  for  many  a  man’s  action. 
He  will  act  according  to  the  saying:  “  While  you  are 
in  Rome,  do  as  the  Romans  do,”  neglecting  to  investi¬ 
gate  and  determine  whether  or  not  the  Romans  do 
right.  If  they  do  wrong,  a  man  should  stand  against 
a  whole  nation,  if  need  be,  like  another  Daniel. 


88 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


Almighty  God  set  two  sides  before  the  children 
of  Israel,  and  I  set  them  now  before  you.  Remember, 
as  you  choose,  that  your  eternity  is  in  the  balance. 

“  See,  I  have  set  before  thee  this  day  life  and  good, 
and  death  an*d  evil;  in  that  I  command  thee  this  day 
to  love  the  Lord  thy  God,  to  walk  in  His  ways,  and  to 
keep  His  commandments,  and  His  statutes,  and  His 
judgments,  that  thou  mayest  live  and  multiply;  and 
the  Lord  thy  God  shall  bless  thee  in  the  land  whither 
thou  goest  to  possess  it. 

“  But  if  thine  heart  turn  away,  so  that  thou  wilt  not 
hear,  but  shalt  be  drawn  away,  and  worship  other 
gods,  and  serve  them:  I  denounce  unto  you  this  day 
that  ye  shall  surely  perish,  and  that  ye  shall  not  pro¬ 
long  your  days  upon  the  land  whither  thou  passest 
over  Jordan  to  go  to  possess  it. 

“  I  call  heaven  and  earth  to  record  this  day  against 
you,  that  I  have  set  before  you  life  and  death,  bless¬ 
ing  and  cursing^therefore  CHOOSE  LIFE  that  both 
thou  and  thy  seed  may  live:  that  thou  mayest  love  the 
Lord  thy  God,  and  that  thou  mayest  obey  His  voice, 
and  that  thou  mayest  cleave  unto  Him:  for  He  is  thy 
life  and  the  length  of  thy  days.” 


FORGIVENESS  AND 
RETRIBUTION. 


“  Thou  renderest  to  every  man  according  to  his  work." — Psalms 
Ixii:  12. 

For  we  7nust  all  a'hpcar  before  the  judg7nent  seat  of  Christ; 
that  every  one  7nay  receive  the  things  done  m  his  body^  according 
to  that  he  hath  done^  whether  it  be  good  or  bad." — II  Cor.  v:  lo. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


Forgiveness  and  Retribution. 

I  can  imagine  some  one  saying,  “  I  attend  church, 
and  have  heard  that  if  we  confess  our  sin,  God  will  for¬ 
give  us;  now  I  hear  that  I  must  reap  the  same  kind  of 
seed  that  I  have  sown.  How  can  I  harmonize  the 
doctrine  of  forgiveness  with  the  doctrine  of  retribution  ? 
‘All  we  like  sheep  have  gone  astray;  we  have  turned 
every  one  to  his  own  way;  and  the  Lord  hath  laid  on 
him  the  iniquity  of  us  all.  ’  And  yet  you  say  that  I 
must  reap  what  I  have  sown.” 

Suppose  I  send  my  hired  man  to  sow  wheat.  When 
it  grows  up,  there  are  thistles  mixed  with  the  wheat. 
There  wasn’t  a  thistle  a  year  ago.  I  say  to  my  man: 

“  Do  you  know  anything  about  the  thistles  in  the 
field ” 

He  says:  “  Yes,  I  do;  you  sent  me  to  sow  that 
wheat,  and  I  was  angry  and  mixed  some  thistles  with 
the  wheat.  But  you  promised  me  that  if  I  ever  did 
wrong  and  confessed  it,  you  would  forgive  me;  now  I 
hold  you  to  that  promise,  and  expect  you  to  forgive 
me. 

“  Yes,”  I  say,  “  you  are  quite  right;  I  forgive  you 
for  sowing  the  thistles;  but  I  will  tell  you  what  you 


92 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


must  do — you  must  reap  the  thistles  along  with  the 
wheat  when  harvest  time  comes.” 

Many  a  Christian  man  is  reaping  thistles  with  his 
wheat.  Twenty  years  ago  you  sowed  thistles  with 
the  wheat  and  are  reaping  them  now.  Perhaps  it  was 
an  obscene  story,  the  memory  of  which  keeps  coming 
back  to  distress  you,  even  at  the  most  solemn  mo¬ 
ments.  Perhaps  some  hasty  word  or  deed  that  you 
have  never  been  able  to  recall. 

I  heard  John  B.  Gough  say  that  he  would  rather 
cut  off  his  hand  than  have  committed  a  certain  sin. 
He  didn’t  say  what  it  was,  but  I  have  always  sup¬ 
posed  it  was  the  way  he  treated  his  mother.  He  was 
a  wretched,  drunken  sot  in  the  gutter  when  his  mother 
died  ;  the  poor  woman  couldn’t  stand  it,  and  died  of 
a  broken  heart.  God  had  forgiven  him,  but  he  never 
forgave  himself.  A  great  many  have  done  things  that 
they  will  never  forgive  themselves  for  to  their  dying 
day.  “At  this  moment,  ”  said  one,  “from  many  a 
harlot’s  dishonored  grave  there  arises  a  mute  appeal 
for  righteous  retribution.  From  many  a  drunkard’s 
miserable  home,  from  heartbroken  wife,  from  starv¬ 
ing  children,  there  rings  up  a  terrible  appeal  into  the 
ears  of  God.” 

I  believe  that  God  forgives  sin  fully  and  freely  for 
Christ’s  sake  ;  but  He  allows  certain  penalties  to  re¬ 
main.  If  a  man  has  wasted  years  in  riotous  living, 
he  can  never  hope  to  live  them  over  again.  If  he  has 
violated  his  conscience,  the  scars  will  remain  through 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


93 


life.  If  he  has  soiled  his  reputation,  the  effect  of  it 
can  never  be  washed  away.  If  he  shatters  his  body 
through  indulgence  and  vice,  he  must  suffer  until 
death.  As  Talmage  says,  “  The  grace  of  God  gives 
a  new  heart,  but  not  a  new  body.” 

“  John,”  said  a  father  to  his  son,  “  I  wish  you  would 
get  me  the  hammer.” 

“  Yes,  sir.” 

“  Now  a  nail  and  a  piece  of  pine  board.” 

“  Here  they  are,  sir.” 

“  Will  you  drive  the  nail  into  the  board  }  ” 

It  was  done. 

“  Please  pull  it  out  again.” 

“  That’s  easy,  sir.  ” 

“  Now,  John,”  and  the  father’s  voice  dropped  to  a 
lower  key,  “  pull  out  the  nail  hole.” 

Every  wrong  act  leaves  a  scar.  Even  if  the  board 
be  a  living  tree  the  scar  remains. 

“  For  our  worst  sins  there  is  plenteous  redemption. 
My  sin  may  become  white  as  snow,  and  pass  away 
altogether,  in  so  far  as  it  has  power  to  disturb  or  sad¬ 
den  my  relation  to  God.  Yet  our  least  sins  leave  in  our 
lives,  in  our  characters,  in  our  memories,  in  our  con¬ 
sciences,  sometimes  in  our  weakness,  often  in  our 
worldly  position,  in  our  reputation,  in  our  success,  in 
our  health,  in  a  thousand  ways  leave  their  traces  and 
consequences.  God  will  not  put  out  His  little  finger 
to  remove  these,  but  lets  them  stop. 

“  Let  no  man  fancy  that  the  Gospel  which  pro- 


94 


SOWING  AAD  HE  A  P/AG 


claims  forgiveness  can  be  vulgarized  into  a  mere 
proclamation  of  impunity.  Not  so.  It  was  to  Christ¬ 
ian  men  that  Paul  said,  ‘  Be  not  deceived,  God  is  not 
mocked:  whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also 
reap.’  God  loves  us  too  well  not  to  punish  His  chil¬ 
dren  when  they  sin,  and  He  loves  us  too  well  to  anni¬ 
hilate  (were  it  possible)  the  secoyidary  consequences  of 
our  transgressions.  The  two  sides  of  the  truth  must 
be  recognized — that  the  deeper  and  (as  we  call  them) 
the  pj'imary  penalties  of  our  evil,  which  are  separa¬ 
tion  from  God  and  the  painful  consciousness  of  guilt, 
are  swept  away;  and  also  that  other  results  are  al¬ 
lowed  to  remain,  which,  being  allowed,  may  be  blessed 
and  salutary  for  the  transgressors. 

MacLaren  says,  “  If  you  waste  your  youth,  no  re¬ 
pentance  will  send  the  shadow  back  upon  the  dial,  or 
recover  the  ground  lost  by  idleness,  or  restore  the 
constitution  shattered  by  dissipation,  or  give  back  the 
resources  wasted  upon  vice,  or  brin^  back  the  fleeting 
opportunities.  The  wounds  can  all  be  healed,  for 
the  Good  Physiican,  blessed  be  His  name!  has  lancets 
and  bandages,  and  balm  and  anodynes  for  the  dead¬ 
liest;  but  scars  remain  even  when  the  gash  is  closed.” 

God  forgave  Moses  and  Aaron  for  their  sins,  but  both 
suffered  the  penalty.  Neither  one  was  permitted  to 
enter  the  promised  land.  Jacob  became  a  “  prince  of 
God  ”  at  the  ford  of  Jabbok,  but  to  the  end  of  his  days 
he  carried  in  his  body  the  mark  of  the  struggle.  Paul’s 
horn  in  the  flesh  was  not  removed,  even  after  most 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


95 


earnest  and  repeated  prayer.  It  lost  its  sting,  how¬ 
ever,  and  became  a  means  of  grace. 

Perhaps  that  is  one  reason  why  God  does  not  re¬ 
move  these  penalties  of  sin.  He  may  intend  them  to 
be  used  as  tokens  of  His  chastening.  “  Whom  the 
Lord  loveth  He  chasteneth.”  And  if  the  temporal 
consequences  were  completely  removed  we  would  be 
liable  to  fall  back  again  into  sin.  The  penalty  is  a 
continual  reminder  of  our  weakness,  and  of  the  need 
of  caution  and  dependence  upon  God. 

One  night  in  Chicago  at  the  close  of  a  meeting  in 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  rooms,  a  young  man  sprang  to  his 
feet  and  said:  “  Mr.  Moody,  would  you  let  me  speak  a 
few  words }  ” 

I  said,  “  Certainly.’’ 

Then  for  about  five  minutes  he  pleaded  with  those 
men  to  break  from  sin.  He  said: 

“  If  you  have  anyone  who  takes  any  interest  in  your 
spiritual  welfare,  treat  them  kindly,  for  they  are  the 
best  friends  you  have.  I  was  an  only  child,  and  my 
mother  and  father  took  great  interest  in  me.  Every 
morning  at  the  family  altar  father  used  to  pray  for  me, 
and  every  night  he  would  commend  me  to  God.  I 
was  wild  and  reckless  and  didn’t  like  the  restraint  of 
home.  When  my  father  died  my  mother  took  up  the 
family  worship.  Many  a  time  she  came  to  me  and 
said,  ‘  Oh,  my  boy,  if  you  would  stay  to  farrily  wor¬ 
ship  I  should  be  the  happiest  mother  on  earth;  but 
when  I  pray,  you  don’t  even  stay  in  the  house.’ 


96 


SOWING  AND  HEAPING 


Sometimes  I  would  go  in  at  midnight  from  a  night  of 
dissipation  and  hear  my  mother  praying  for  me. 
Sometimes  in  the  small  hours  of  morning  I  heard 
her  voice  pleading  for  me.  At  last  I  felt  that  I  must 
either  become  a  Christian  or  leave  home,  and  one  day 
I  gathered  a  few  things  together  and  stole  away  from 
home  without  letting  my  mother  know. 

“  Some  time  after  I  heard  indirectly  that  my  mother 
was  ill.  Ah,  I  thought,  it  is  my  conduct  that  is  mak¬ 
ing  her  ill  !  My  first  impulse  was  to  go  home  and 
cheer  her  last  days;  but  the  thought  came  that  if  I  did 
I  should  have  to  become  a  Christian.  My  proud  heart 
revolted  and  I  said:  ‘  No,  I  will  not  become  a  Christ¬ 
ian.’  ” 

Months  rolled  by,  and  at  last  he  heard  again  that 
his  mother  was  worse.  Then  he  thought: 

“  If  my  mother  should  not  live  I  would  never  for¬ 
give  myself.” 

That  thought  took  him  home.  He  reached  the  old 
village  about  dark,  and  started  on  foot  for  the  home, 
which  was  about  a  mile  and  a  half  distant.  On  the 
way  he  passed  the  graveyard,  and  thought  he  would 
go  to  his  father’s  grave  to  see  if  there  was  a  newly- 
made  grave  beside  it.  As  he  drew  near  the  spot,  his 
heart  began  to  beat  faster,  and  when  he  came  near 
enough,  the  light  of  the  moon  shone  on  a  newly-made 
grave.  With  a  great  deal  of  emotion  he  said: 

“  Young  men,  for  the  first  time  in  my  life  this  ques¬ 
tion  came  over  me — who  is  going  to  pray  for  my  lost 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


97 


soul  now  ?  Father  is  gone,  and  mother  is  gone,  and 
they  are  the  only  two  who  ever  cared  for  me.  If  I 
could  have  called  my  mother  back  that  night  and 
heard  her  breathe  my  name  in  prayer,  I  would  have 
given  the  world  if  it  had  been  mine  to  give.  I  spent 
all  that  night  by  her  grave,  and  God  for  Christ's  sake 
heard  my  mother’s  prayers,  and  I  became  a  child  of 
God.  But  I  never  forgave  myself  for  the  way  I  treated 
my  mother,  and  never  will.” 

Where  is  my  wandering  boy  to-night — 

The  boy  of  my  tenderest  care, 

The  boy  that  was  once  my  joy  and  light. 

The  child  of  my  love  and  prayer  ? 

Once  he  was  pure  as  morning  dew. 

As  he  knelt  at  his  mother’s  knee  ; 

No  face  was  so  bright,  no  heart  more  true, 

'And  none  was  so  sweet  as  he. 

O,  could  I  see  you  now,  my  boy. 

As  fair  as  jn  olden  time. 

When  prattle  and  smile  made  home  a  joy, 

And  life  was  a  merry  chime. 

Go  for  my  wandering  boy  to-night. 

Go,  search  for  him  where  you  will ; 

But  bring  him  to  me  with  all  his  blight, 

And  tell  him  I  love  him  still. 

My  dear  friends,  God  may  forgive  you,  but  the  con¬ 
sequences  of  your  sin  are  going  to  be  bitter  even  if 
you  are  forgiven. 

A  few  years  ago  I  was  preaching  in  Chicago  on  that 
text,  “  Arise,  go  up  to^  Bethel  and  dwell  there.” 
After  the  meeting  a  man  asked  to  see  me  alone.  I 


98 


SO  WING  AND  REAPING 


went  into  a  private  room.  The  perspiration  stood  in 
beads  on  his  forehead.  I  said: 

“What  is  it.?” 

He  replied:  “  I  am  a  fugitive  from  justice.  I  am  in 
exile,  in  disguise.  The  government  of  my  state  has 
offered  a  reward  for  me.  I  have  been  hidden  here 
for  months.  They  tell  me  there  is  no  hell,  but  it 
seems  as  though  I  have  been  in  hell  for  months.” 

He  had  been  a  business  man,  and  having,  as  he 
thought,  plenty  of  money,  he  forged  some  bonds, 
thinking  that  he  could  give  his  check  any  time  and 
call  them  in,  but  he  got  beyond  his  depth  and  fell. 

He  said,  “  I  have  been  here  for  six  months.  I  have 
a  wife  and  three  children,  but  I  cannot  write  to  them 
or  hear  from  them.”  The  poor  man  was  in  terrible 
mental  agony. 

I  said,  “  Why  don’t  you  go  back  and  give  yourself 
up  and  face  the  law,  and  ask  God  to  forgive  you  .?  ” 

He  said,  “  I  would  take  the  first  train  to-  morrow 
and  give  myself  up,  except  for  one  thing.  I  have  a 
wife  and  three  children;  how  can  I  bring  the  disgrace 
upon  them.?” 

I,  too,  have  a  wife  and  three  children,  and  when 
he  said  that,  the  thing  looked  very  different. 

Ah!  if  we  could  do  our  own  reaping,  it  would  not 
be  so  bitter,  but  when  we  make  our  little  children  or 
the  wife  of  our  bosom,  or  our  old  gray-haired  mother, 
or  our  old  father  reap  with  us,  isn’t  the  reaping  pretty 
bitter .?  I  don’t  fear  any  pestilence  or  any  disease  as 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


99 


much  as  I  fear  sin.  If  God  will  only  keep  sin  out  of 
my  family,  I  will  praise  Him  in  time  and  in  eternity. 
The  worst  enemy  that  ever  crossed  a  man’s  path 
is  sin. 

If  a  man  comes  to  me  for  advice  I  always  try  to  put 
myself  in  the  place  of  the  one  to  whom  I  am  talking, 
and  then  to  give  the  best  advice  I  can.  I  said  to  this 
man, 

“  I  don’t  know  what  to  say,  but  it  is  safe  to  pray.” 

After  I  had  prayed,  I  urged  him  to  pray;  but  he 
said: 

If  I  do,  it  means  the  penitentiary.” 

I  asked  him  to  come  the  next  day  at  twelve.  He 
met  me  at  the  appointed  hour,  and  said: 

“  It  is  all  settled;  if  I  ever  meet  the  God  of  Bethel  I 
must  go  through  the  prison  to  meet  Him,  and  God 
helping  me,  I  will  give  myself  up.  I  am  going  back, 
and  I  should  like  to  have  you  keep  quiet  until  I  give 
myself  over  into  the  hands  of  the  law;  then  you  may 
hold  me  up  ?is  a  warning.  Little  did  I  think  when  I 
started  out  in  life  that  I  was  coming  to  this  !  Little 
did  I  think  when  I  married  a  girl  from  one  of  the  first 
families  in  the  state  that  I  should  bring  such  disgrace 
on  her.” 

At  four  o’clock  that  afternoon  he  went  back  to  Mis¬ 
souri.  He  reached  home  a  little  past  midnight,  and 
spent  a  week  with  his  family.  In  a  letter  he  said  that 
he  didn’t  dare  let  his  children  know  he  was  there,  lest 
they  should  tell  the  neighbor’s  children.  At  night  he 


100 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


would  creep  out  and  look  at  his  children,  but  he 
couldn’t  take  them  in  his  arms  or  kiss  them.  Oh, 
there  is  the  result  of  sin!  Would  to  God  we  could 
every  one  of  us  just  turn  from  sin  to-day! 

One  day,  when  this  man  was  in  hiding,  he  heard 
his  little  boy  say: 

“  Mamma,  doesn’t  papa  love  us  any  more?” 

“Yes,”  his  mother  replied.  “  Why  do  you  ask  ?” 

“  Why,”  the  little  fellow  said,  “  he  has  been  gone 
so  long  and  he  never  writes  us  any  letters  and  never 
comes  to  see  us.” 

The  last  night  he  came  out  from  hiding  and  took  a 
long  look  at  those  innocent,  sleeping  children;  then 
he  took  his  wife  and  kissed  her  again  and  again,  and 
leaving  that  once  happy  home  he  gave  himself  up  to 
the  sheriff.  The  next  morning  he  pleaded  guilty,  and 
was  sent  to  the  penitentiary  for  nineteen  years.  I  be¬ 
lieve  that  God  had  forgiven  him,  but  he  couldn’t  for¬ 
give  himself,  and  he  had  to  reap  what  he  sowed.  I 
pleaded  with  the  governor  for  mercy,  and  the  man 
was  pardoned. 

Some  time  ago  I  was  telling  this  story,  and  some 
one  doubted  it,  but  the  governor  who  pardoned  him 
happened  to  be  in  the  meeting,  and  rose  and  said,  “  I 
pardoned  that  man  myself.”  The  governor  pardoned 
him,  and  he  lived  a  few  years,  but  from  the  time  he 
committed  that  sin  he  had  to  reap.  Oh,  reader,  I 
plead  with  you,  overcome  your  besetting  sin,  whatever 
it  is. 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


101 


Future  Punishment. 

I  can  imagine  some  one  saying,  “  I  am  glad  Mr. 
Moody  hasn’t  tried  to  scare  us  about  the  future  state. 
I  agree  with  him  that  we  shall  receive  all  our  reward 
and  punishment  in  this  life.” 

If  you  think  I  believe  that,  you  are  greatly  mistaken. 
One  sentence  from  the  lips  of  the  Son  of  God  in  regard 
to  the  future  state  has  forever  settled  it  in  my  mind. 
“  If  ye  die  in  your  sins,  ivJiere  I  am,  tiiere  ye  cannot  go  ^ 
If  a  man  has  not  given  up  his  drunkenness,  his  pro¬ 
fanity,  his  licentiousness,  his  covetousness,  heaven 
would  be  hell  to  him.  Heaven  is  a  prepared  place 
for  prepared  people.  What  would  a  man  do  in  heaven 
who  cannot  bear  to  be  in  the  society  of  the  pure  and 
holy  down  here  } 

It  is  not  true  that  all  reward  and  punishment  is 
reaped  in  this  life.  Look  how  many  crimes  are  com¬ 
mitted,  and  the  perpetrators  are  never  caught.  It 
often  happens  that  the  worst  criminal  uses  his  exper¬ 
ience  to  escape  detection,  while  a  more  innocent  hand 
is  captured.  A  man  ruins  a  girl.  Does  he  always  reap 
punishment  here  }  No.  He  holds  his  head  as  high  as 
ever  in  society,  while  the  unfortunate  victim  of  his  lust, 
who,  perhaps,  was  innocently  beguiled  into  sin  by  him, 
becomes  an  outcast.  His  punishment,  however,  is,  at 
the  latest,  only  adjourned  to  another  world. 


102 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


Eternity  ! 

Oh,  the  clanging  bells  of  Time  ! 

Night  and  day  they  never  cease  ; 

We  are  vearied  with  their  chime, 

For  they  do  not  bring  us  peace. 

And  we  hush  our  breath  to  hear. 

And  we  strain  our  eyes  to  see 
If  thy  shores  are  drawing  near — 

Eternity  !  Eternity  ! 

Oh,  the  clanging  bells  of  Time  ! 

How  their  changes  rise  and  fall. 

But  in  undertone  sublime. 

Sounding  clearly  through  them  all. 

Is  a  voice  that  must  be  heard, 

As  our  moments  onward  flee. 

And  it  speaketh  aye  one  w’ord — 

Eternity  !  Eternity  ! 

Oh,  the  clanging  bells  of  Time  ! 

To  their  voices  loud  and  low. 

In  a  long,  unresting  line 
We  are  marching  to  and  fro  ; 

And  we  yearn  for  sight  or  sound. 

Of  the  life  that  is  to  be. 

For  thy  breath  doth  wrap  us  round — 

Eternity  !  Eternity ! 

Oh,  the  clanging  bells  of  Time  ! 

Soon  their  notes  will  all  be  dumb. 

And  in  joy  and  peace  sublime 
We  shall  feel  the  silence  come  ; 

And  our  souls  their  thirst  will  slake. 

And  our  eyes  the  King  will  see. 

When  thy  glorious  morn  shall  break — 

Eternity  !  Eternity  ! 

— Ellen  M.  H.  Gates. 


WARNING. 


“  Take  heed  that  no  man  deceive youT — Matt,  xxiv:  4.  • 

“  Christ  in  you  ^  the  hope  ef  glory',  whom  we  preach.,  warning 
every  man,  and  teaching  every  man  in  all  wisdoyn;  that  we  may 
present  every  man  perfect  in  Christ  Jesus." — Col.  i:  27,  28. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


Warning. 

To  give  a  warning  is  a  sign  of  love.  Who  warns 
like  a  mother,  and  who  loves  like  a  mother  ?  Your 
mother,  perhaps,  is  gone,  and  your  father  is  gone. 
Let  nie  take  the  place  of  those  who  have  departed, 
and  lift  up  a  warning  voice.  Witl^  Paul  I  would  say: 
“  I  write  not  these  things  to  shame  you,  but  as  my 
beloved  sons  I  warn  you.” 

A  pilot  guiding  a  steamer  down  the  Cumberland  saw 
a  light,  apparently  from  a  small  craft,  in  the  middle  of 
the  narrow  channel.  His  impulse  was  to  disregard 
the  signal  and  run  down  the  boat.  As  he  came  near, 
a  voice  shouted  :  “  Keep  off,  keep  off.” 

In  great  anger  he  cursed  what  he  supposed  to  be  a 
boatman  in  his  way.  On  arriving  at  his  next  landing 
he  learned  that  a  huge  rock  had  fallen  from  the  mount¬ 
ain  into  the  bed  of  the  stream,  and  that  a  signal  was 
placed  there  to  warn  the  coming  boats  of  the  unknown 
danger.  Alas  !  many  regard  God’s  warnings  in  the 
same  way,  and  are  angry  with  any  who  tell  them  of 
the  rocks  in  their  course.  They  will  understand  better 
at  the  end. 

The  children  of  Israel  had  no  truer  friend  than 


106 


SOWING  AND  REAPmG 


Moses.  They  never  went  astray  but  he  warned  them; 
and  trouble  never  came  upon  them  except  v/hen  his 
warnings  were  unheeded.  Elijah  was  the  best  friend 
Ahab  had. 

I  wish  I  could  warn  as  Jesus  Christ  did.  As  he 
went  up  Mount  Olivet,  His  heart  seemed  to  be  greatly 
moved  and  He  cried,  “  Oh,  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  thou 
that  killest  the  prophets,  and'“stonest  them  which  are 
sent  unto  thee,  how  often  would  I  have  gathered  thy 
children  together,  even  as  a  hen  gathereth  her  chick¬ 
ens  under  her  wings,  and  ye  would  not  !  ”  Did  He 
not  warn  } 

If  a  friend  of  mine  were  about  to  invest  in  a  worth¬ 
less  silver-mine,  do  you  think  I  would  be  true  to  him 
if  I  did  not  caution  him  against  it }  And  do  I  show 
less  love  for  him  because  I  warn  him  against  actions 
that  will  bring  a  harvest  of  misery  and  despair  } 

“  Whosoever  heare  th  the  sound  of  the  trumpet,  and 
taketh  not  warning  ;  if  the  sword  come,  and  take  him 
away,  his  blood  shall  be  upon  his  own  head  ;  he 
heard  the  sound  of  the  trumpet,  and  took  not  warn¬ 
ing  ;  his  blood  shall  be  upon  him.  But  he  that  taketh 
warning  shall  deliver  his  soul.” 

Be  sure  that  the  seed  you  are  sowing  is  good  seed. 
Sow  to  the  flesh,  and  a  good  harvest  will  be  impossible. 
Good  seed  and  bad  seed  cannot  both  succeed  if  al¬ 
lowed  to  grow  together.  One  prospers  at  the  expense 
of  the  other;  and  the  likelihood  is  that  the  bad  will 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


107 


get  the  upper  hand.  Weeds  always  seem  to  grow  and 
spread  more  rapidly  than  good  seed. 

The  longer  they  live,  the  firmer  hold  the  weeds 
are  gaining.  Delay  is  dangerous.  In  the  year  1691,  a 
proclamation  was  sent  Through  the  Highlands  of  Scot¬ 
land,  that  every  one  who  had  been  guilty  of  rebellion 
against  the  constituted  government  would  be  pardoned, 
if,  before  the  last  day  of  the  year,  he  laid  down  his  arms 
and  promised  to  cease  his  rebellion.  Many  did  so; 
but  one  chief  named  Maclan  put  off  submission  from 
week  to  week,  always  intending  to  submit  before  it 
was  too  late.  But  when,  at  last,  he  started  to  accept 
pardon,  he  was  hindered  by  a  great  storm  and  did  not 
arrive  until  the  time  had  expired.  The  day  of  pardon 
had  passed  and  the  day  of  vengeance  had  come;  Mac¬ 
lan  and  his  men  were  put  to  death. 

Hence,  it  is  wise  to  exterminate  the  weeds  at  once. 
And  beware  of  remaining  longer  in  sin.  The  deeper 
you  sink,  the  more  bitter  will  be  your  restoration. 
Why  continue  to  sear  you  conscience,  and  sow  the 
seeds  of  keener  remorse  }  No  matter  how  painful  it 
may  be,  break  with  sin  at  once.  Severe  operations 
are  often  necessary,  for  the  skilful  surgeon  knows  that 
the  disease  cannot  be  cured  by  surface  applications. 
The  farmer  takes  his  hoe  and  his  spade  and  his  axe, 
and  he  cuts  away  the  obnoxious  growths,  and  burns 
the  roots  out  of  the  ground  with  fire. 

If  thy  right  eye  offend  thee,  pluck  it  out,  and  cast 
it  from  thee:  for  it  is  profitable  for  thee  that  one  of 


108 


SOWING  AND  /LEAPING 


thy  members  should  perish,  and  not  that  thy  whole 
body  should  be  cast  into  hell.  And  if  thy  right  hand 
offend  thee,  cut  it  off,  and  cast  it  from  thee:  for  it  is 
profitable  for  thee  that  one  of  thy  members  should 
perish,  and  not  that  thy  whole  body  should  be  cast 
into  hell. 

Remember  that  the  tares  and  the  wheat  will  be  sep¬ 
arated  at  the  judgment  day,  if  not  before.  Sowing  to 
the  flesh  and  sowing  to  the  spirit  inevitably  lead  in 
diverging  paths.  The  axe  will  be  laid  at  the  root  of 
the  trees,  and  every  tree  that  bringeth  not  forth  good 
fruit  will  be  hewn  down  and  cast  into  the  fire.  The 
threshing-floor  will  be  thoroughly  purged,  and  the 
wheat  will  be  gathered  into  the  garner,  while  the  chaff 
will  be  burned  with  unquenchable  fire. 

Beware  of  your  habits.  A  recent  writer  has  said: 

“  Could  the  young  but  realize  how  soon  they  will  be¬ 
come  mere  walking  bundles  of  habits,  they  would  give 
more  heed  to  their  conduct  while  in  the  plastic  state. 
We  are  spinning  our  own  fates,  good  or  evil,  and  never 
to  be  undone.  Every  smallest  stroke  of  virtue  or  of 
vice  leaves  its  never  so  Ifttle  scar.  The  drunken  Rip 
Van  Winkle,  in  Jefferson’s  play,  excuses  himself  for 
every  fresh  dereliction  by  saying,  ‘  /  won't  count  this 
time.'  Well,  he  may  not  count  it,  and  a  kind  heaven 
may  not  count  it,  but  it  is  being  counted  none  the  less. 
Down  among  his  nerve  cells  and  fibres  the  molecules 
are  counting  it,  registering  and  storing  it  up,  to  be 
used  against  him  when  the  next  temptation  comes. 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


109 


Nothing  we  ever  do  is,  in  strict  scientific  literalness, 
wiped  out.  Of  course,  this  has  its  good  side  as  well  as 
its  bad  one.  As  we  become  permanent  drunkards  by 
so  many  separate  drinks,  so  we  become  saints  in  the 
moral  sphere,  and  authorities  and  experts  in  the  prac¬ 
tical  and  scientific  spheres,  by  so  many  separate  acts 
and  hours  of  work.” 

Beware  of  temptations.  “  Lead  us  not  into  temp¬ 
tation,”  our  Lord  taught  us  to  pray:  and  again  he  said, 
“  Watch  and  pray,  lest  ye  enter  into  temptation.  ”  We 
are  weak  and  sinful  by  nature,  and  it  is  a  good  deal  bet¬ 
ter  for  us  to  pray  for  deliverance  rather  than  for  strength 
to  resist  when  temptation  has  overtaken  us.  Preven¬ 
tion  is  better  than  cure.  Hidden  under  the  soil  may 
be  seeds  of  passion  and  wickedness  that  only  wait  for 
a  favorable  opportunity  to  shoot  up. 

Young  men  pretend  that  it  is  necessary  to  see  both 
sides  of  life.  What  foolishness!  I  am  not  called 
upon  to  put  my  hand  in  the  fire  to  see  if  it  will  burn. 

A  steamboat  was  stranded  on  the  Mississippi  river, 
and  the  captain  could  not  get  her  off.  Eventually  a 
hard-looking  fellow  came  on  board  and  said: 

“  Captain,  I  understand  you  want  a  pilot  to  take  you 
out  of  this  difficulty  }  ” 

The  captain  said,  “  Are  you  a  pilot  ?  ” 

“  Well,  they  call  me  one.” 

“  Do  you  know  where  the  snags  and  sand-bars 
are }  ” 


“  No,  sir.” 


no 


SOWING  A  AD  REAPIAG 


“  Well,  how  do  you  expect  to  take  me  out  of  here  if 
you  don’t  know  where  the  snags  and  sand-bars  are  ?” 

“  I  know  where  they  ain’t  !  ”  was  the  reply. 

Begin  to  sow  the  good  seed  while  the  children  are 
young,  and  thus  prevent  the  weeds  getting  a  start. 
Satan  does  not  wait  till  they  grow  up,  and  no  more 
should  we. 

There  are  many  fishing  nets  so  constructed  as  to  al¬ 
low  none  but  full  grown  fish  to  be  caught,  the  imma¬ 
ture  escaping.  Satan  has  none  such.  He  catchers  the 
weakest  and  youngest. 

“  We  must  care  for  our  boys  or  the  devil  will,”  said 
a  young  Sabbath  School  teacher. 

“  The  devil  will  care  for  them  anyway,”  answered 
the  old  superintendent:  “The  devil  will  not  neglect 
them  even  though  we  do.” 

It  is  a  master-piece  of  the  devil  to  make  us  believe 
that  children  can  not  understand  religion.  Would 
Christ  have  made  a  child  the  standard  of  faith  if  He 
had  known  that  it  was  not  capable  of  understanding 
His  words  ?  It  is  far  easier  for  children  to  love  and 
trust  than  for  grown-up  persons,  and  so  we  should  set 
Christ  before  them  as  the  supreme  object  of  their 
choice. 

Do  not  neglect  opportunities.  Napoleon  used  to 
say:  “  There  is  a  crisis  in  every  battle — ten  or  fifteen 
minutes — on  which  the  issue  of  the  battle  depends. 
To  gain  this  is  victory;  to  lose  it  is  defeat.” 

Beware  of  sin.  Its  wages  are  Death,  and  (as  has 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


111 


been  said)  the  wages  have  never  been  reduced.  Ih 
deceives  men  as  to  the  satisfaction  to  be  found  in  it,  \ 
the  excuses  to  be  made  for  it,  and  the  certainty  of 
the  punishment  that  must  follow.  If  it  was  not  deceit¬ 
ful,  it  would  never  be  delightful.  It  comes  in  innocent 
guise,  and  saps  the  life  blood,  depriving  one  of  the 
moral  capacity  to  do  good.  Canon  Wilberforce, 
walking  in  the  Isle  of  Skye,  saw  a  magnificent 
golden  eagle  soaring  upward.  He  halted  and  watched 
its  flight.  Soon  he  observed  something  was  wrong. 
It  began  to  fall,  and  presently  lay  dead  at  his  feet. 
Eager  to  know  the  reason  of  its  death,  he  examined  it 
and  found  no  trace  of  gunshot  wound;  but  he  saw  in 
its  talons  a  small  weazel,  which,  in  its  flight,  drawn 
near  its  body,  had  sucked  the  life  blood  from  the 
eagle’s  breast.  Such  is  the  end  of  every  one  who  per¬ 
sistently  clings  to  sin. 

Do  not  be  deceived  by  the  attractiveness  of  this 
world.  It  will  cheat  you  and  destroy  you.  “  The 
Redoubtable  ”  was  the  name  of  a  French  ship  that 
Lord  Nelson  spared  twice  from  destruction;  and  it  was 
from  the  rigging  of  that  very  ship  that  the  fatal  ball 
that  killed  him  was  fired.  The  devil  administers 
many  a  sin  in  honey;  but  there  is  poison  mixed  with 

it.  The  truest  pleasures  spring  from  the  good  seed 

▼ 

of  righteousness — none  else  are  profitable. 

Beware  of  ignorance  and  indifference.  You  can¬ 
not  afford  to  neglect  your  soul.  There  is  too  much 
at  stake.  I  never  knew  an  idle  man  to  be  converted. 


112 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


Until  he  wakes  up  and  realizes  his  lost  and  hopeless 
condition,  God  Almighty  will  not  reach  down  and 
take  him  by  the  hand.  A  ship  was  once  in  great 
danger  at  sea,  and  all  but  one  man  were  on  their 
knees.  They  called  to  him  to  come  and  join  them 
in  prayer,  but  he  replied: 

“Not  I;  it’s  your  business  to  look  after  the  ship. 
I’m  only  a  passenger.” 

Remember  that  mere  knowledge  is  not  enough. 
Many  a  man  knows  the  gospel  precepts  and  promises 
by  heart  who  is  not  touched  by  saving  grace. 
Knowledge  is  often  useless  or  positively  harmful,  and 
what  we  want  is  to  know  God’s  will  and  observe  it. 
Even  good  resolutions  are  not  enough.  ’  No  doubt 
they  are  helpful  in  their  w^ay,  but  the  Bible  does  not 
lead  us  to  believe  that  they  can  save  a  man.  It  does 
not  say:  “  As  many  as  resolved  to  receive  Him,  to 
them  gave  He  power  to  become  the  sons  of  God,  even 
to  them  that  resolve  to  believe  on  His  name  it  says: 
“  As  many  as  received  Him  *  *  *  believe  on  His 

name.” 

Be  watchful  !  There  is  constant  need  to  be  on 
guard  lest  we  fall  into  sin.  “  Set  a  double  guard  upon 
that  point  to-night,”  was  the  command  of  a  prudent 
officer  when  an  attack  was  expected.  At  the  best  there 
will  be  some  tares  among  the  wheat.  We,  all  of  us, 
carry  around  with  us  material  that  Satan  can  work  on. 
Paul  said: 

“  For  I  know  that  in  me  (that  is,  in  my  flesh), 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


118 


dwelleth  no  g^ood  thing:  for  to  will  is  present  with  me; 
but  how  to  perform  that  which  is  good  I  find  not.  For 
the  good  that  I  would,  I  do  not:  but  the  evil  which  I 
would  not,  that  I  do.  Now  if  I  do  that  I  would  not,  it 
is  no  more  I  that  do  it,  but  sin  that  dwelleth  in  me. 
I  find  then  a  law,  that,  when  I  would  do  good,  evil  is 
present  with  me.  For  I  delight  in  the  law  of  God 
after  the  inward  man:  but  I  see  another  law  in  my 
members,  warring  against  the  law  of  my  mind,  and 
bringing  me  into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin  which  is  in 
my  members.  O  wretched  man  that  I  am!  who  shall 
deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ?  ” 

Blessed  be  God,  he  could  add:  “  I  thank  God 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.” 

The  issue  that  God  has  placed  before  us  is  clear- 
cut:  “  He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting 
life;  and  he  that  believeth  not  the  Son  shall  not  see 
life;  but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him.”  There 
is  no  middle  course — “  he  that  believeth  ” — “  he  that 
believeth  not.”  He  leaves  us  to  choose,  and  the  re¬ 
sponsibility  rests  upon  ourselves. 

It  may  c^st  you  many  a  sacrifice,  and  wrench  many 
a  heart-string  to  choose  aright,  but  I  plead  with  you 
to  take  the  decisive  step  now.  The  salvation  of  your 
soul  outweighs  all  other  considerations.  Will  you 
imperil  your  eternity  for  the  sake  of  some  present  gain 
or  pleasure  }  Bow  your  head  and  say:  “  Heavenly 
Father,  I  now  choose  to  come  unto  Thee  as  a  poor, 
suppliant  sinner.  I  believe  on  Thy  Son,  whom  Thou 


114 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


didst  send  to  be  my  Savior;  and  trusting  in  the  merits 
of  His  blood,  which  was  shed  as  a  propitiation  for  my 
sins,  I  rest  in  the  assurance  of  sins  forgiven.” 

There  is  hope  for  the  vilest  sinner.  Wherever  weeds 
grow,  there  is  the  possibility  of  good  seed  growing. 
The  greater  your  need,  the  more  welcome  will  you  be 
to  Jesus.  The  proud  and  the  self-confident  He  know- 
eth  afar  off,  but  the  faintest  whisper  of  the  contrite 
sinner  commands  His  attention. 

Our  Lord  gave  us  a  simple  test  to  help  us  in  our 
choice.  He  said,  “  Every  tree  is  known  by  its  fruit. 
A  good  tree  bringeth  not  forth  corrupt  fruit,  neither 
doth  a  corrupt  tree  bring  forth  good  fruit.”  Many  of 
us  have  not  the  time  or  ability  to  unravel  intricate 
arguments,  or  grasp  profound  doctrines.  Certain 
phases  of  truth  are  often  inaccessible  to  the  ordinary 
mind.  But  the  test  Christ  gave  is  short  and  practical, 
and  within  the  reach  of  any  one  of  us. 

“  Have  you  ever  heard  the  gospel }  ”  asked  a  mis¬ 
sionary  of  a  Chinaman,  whom  he  had  not  seen  in  his 
mission  before. 

“  No,”  he  replied,  “  but  I  have  seen  it.  I  know  a 
man  who  used  to  be  the  terror  of  his  neighborhood. 
He  was  a  bad  opium  smoker  and  dangerous  as  a  wild 
beast;  but  he  became  wholly  changed.  He  is  now 
gentle  and  good  and  has  left  off  opium.” 

Apply  this  test  to  infidelity.  What  are  its  fruits } 
Crime  follows  in  its  track.  Society  becomes  dis¬ 
organized.  Chastity,  honesty  and  the  other  virtues 
are  undermined.  The  whole  life  is  blighted. 


SOW/A^G  AND  REAPING 


115 


The  following  brief  extract  from  a  letter  written  in  an 
English  prison,  is  a  tremendous  arraignment  of  that 
system  of  belief  which  does  not  acknowledge  God: 

“  I  am  one  of  thirteen  infidels.  Where  are  my 
friends  }  Four  have  been  hanged.  One  became  a 
Christian.  Six  have  been  sentenced  to  various  terms 
of  imprisonmont,  and  one  is  now  confined  in  a  cell 
just  over  my  head,  sentenced  to  imprisonment  for 
life.” 

What  are  the  fruits  of  intemperance  ?  At  a  public 
dinner  given  to  General  Harrison  when  he  was  candi¬ 
date  for  the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States, 
one  of  the  guests  rather  conspicuously  “  drank  to  his 
health.”  The  general  pledged  his  toast  by  drinking 
water.  Another  gentleman  offered  a  toast  and  said: 

“  General,  will  you  favor  me  by  drinking  a  glass  of 
wine  ? 

The  general  begged  to  be  excused.  He  was  again 
urged  to  join  in  a  glass  of  wine.  This  was  too  much. 
He  rose  from  his  seat  and  said: 

“  Gentlemen,  I  have  twice  refused  to  partake  of  the 
wine-cup^.  I  hope  that  will  be  sufficient.  Though 
you  press  the  matter  ever  so  much,  not  a  drop  shall 
pass  my  lips.  I  made  a  resolve  when  I  started  in  life 
that  I  would  avoid  strong  drink.  That  vow  I  have 
never  broken.  I  am  one  of  a  class  of  seventeen  young 
men  who  graduated  at  college  together.  The  other 
sixteen  members  of  my  class  noiv  fill  dminkard' s  graves, 
and  all  from  the  pernicious  habit  of  wine-drinking.  I 


116 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


owe  all  my  health,  my  happiness,  and  prosperity  to  that 
resolution.  Would  you  urge  me  to  drink  it  now  ?  ” 

What  are  the  fruits  of  extravagance,  of  pride,  of 
covetousness  ?  And  on  the  other  hand,  of  prayer,  of 
fearing  God  and  doing  His  commandments  ?  What 
are  the  fruits  of  heathenism  t  Look  at  Africa  and 
China  and  India  and  the  islands  of  the  seas  with  their 
gods  of  wood  and  stone.  What  must  be  the  intelli¬ 
gence  and  moral  sense  of  people  who  will  worship 

such  things.^ 

Even  the  best  of  non-Christian  religions  must  always 

prove  a  failure.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  many  of  the 

* 

highest  virtues  are  enjoined  in  the  writings  of  heathen 
philosophers.  How  could  it  be  otherwise  t  Morality  is 
universal  as  humanity,  and  it  is  only  to  be  expected  that 
here  and  there  some  thinker  should  pierce  beyond  the 
average  and  read  deeper  into  the  foundation-truths  of 
ethics.  This  fact  only  proves,  in  my  mind,  the  inti¬ 
mate  connection  between  the  human  and  the  divine. 
Christianity  never  claimed  to  introduce  a  brand-new 
system  of  morality. 

Referring  to  another  matter,  Christ  said:  “  Think 
not  that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the  law  and  the 
prophets:  I  am  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to  ful¬ 
fill.”  And  so  the  fulness  and  perfection  of  His  own 
system  could  not  fail  to  embrace  many  principles 
that  had  already  appeared  in  heathen  morality.  But 
in  the  hands  of  our  Savior  they  became  b^;oader  and 
brighter  and  fuller  of  power  and  meaning. 


soli' IN G  AND  REAPING 


11? 


Will  these  non-Christian  religions  bear  the  test  ? 
Stoicism  was  perhaps  the  noblest  of  the  Greek  philoso¬ 
phies,  but  it  rapidly  developed  into  utter  cynicism, 
and  culminated  in  the  asserted  impossibility  of  attain¬ 
ing  to  virtue.  Epicureanism  started  out  fairly  well, 
but  its  founder  was  not  dead  before  it  earned  for  itself 
the  opprobrious  epithet  that  it  was  a  doctrine  wortlxy 
only  of  swine.  Look  at  Buddhism,  with  its  filthy 
ceremonies  and  cruel  tortures.  All  these  systems  ex¬ 
hibit  a  conflict  between  theory  and  practice.  They 
failed  in  their  object,  because  they  approached  the 
difficulty  on  the  wrong  side.  They  trimmed  away  at 
the  branch,  not  recognizing  that  the  tree  was  rotten 
at  heart. 

Christianity  alone  will  stand  the  test  of  raising 
man  out  of  the  pit.  And  how  does  it  propose 
to  do  it  }  Not  by  minimizing  the  danger  and  need. 
It  says:  “  The  whole  head  is  sick,  and  the  whole 
heart  faint.  From  the  sole  of  the  foot  even  unto  the 
head  there  is  no  soundness  in  it;  but  wounds  and 
bruises  and  putrefying  sores.”  It  demands  as  the 
first  necessity  a  new  birth,  regeneration  by  the  Holy 
Spirit.  “  Ye  must  be  born  again.”  It  does  not  place 
sanctification  before  justification,  but  having  first  im¬ 
parted  life  from  above,  it  throws  around  the  redeemed 
sinner  the  love  of  Christ  and  the  fellowship  and  guid¬ 
ance  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

A  converted  Chinaman  once  said:  “  I  was  down 
in  a  deep  pit,  half  sunk  in  the  mire,  crying  for  some 


118 


SO  WING  AND  REAPING 


one  to  help  me  out.  As  I  looked  up  I  saw  a  vener¬ 
able,  grayhaired  man  looking  down  at  me. 

“  ‘  My  son,’  he  said,  ‘  this  is  a  dreadful  place.’ 

“  ‘  Yes,’  I  answered,  ‘  I  fell  into  it;  can’t  you  help 
me  out  ?  ’ 

“  ‘  My  son,’^  was  his  reply,  ‘  I  am  Confucius.  If 
you  had  read  my  books  and  followed  what  they  taught, 
you  would  never  have  been  here.’ 

“  ‘Yes,  father,’  I  said,  ‘but  can’t  you  help  me 
out  ?  ’ 

“  As  I  looked  he  was  gone.  Soon  I  saw  another 
form  approaching,  and  another  man  bent  over  me, 
this  time  with  closed  eyes  and  folded  arms.  He 
seemed  to  be  looking  to  some  far-off  place. 

“  ‘  My  son,’  Buddha  said,  ‘  just  close  your  eyes  and 
fold  your  arms,  and  forget  all  about  yourself.  Get 
into  a  state  of  rest.  Don’t  think  about  anything  that 
can  disturb.  Get  so  still  that  nothing  can  move  you. 
Then,  my  child,  you  will  be  in  such  delicious  rest  as 
I  am.’ 

“  ‘Yes,  father,’  I  answered,  I  will  when  I  am 
above  ground.  Can’t  you  help  me  out  ?  ’  But  Buddha, 
too,  was  gone. 

“  I  was  just  beginning  to  sink  into  despair  when  I 
saw  another  figure  above  me,  different  from  the 
others.  There  were  marks  of  suffering  on  His  face. 
I  cried  out  to  Him: 

“  ‘  O,  Father!  can  you  help  me  }  ’ 

“  ‘  My  child,’  He  said,  ‘  what  is  the  matter  ?  ’• 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


119 


“  Before  I  could  answer  Him,  He  was  down  in  the 
mire  by  my  side.  He  folded  His  arms  about  me  and 
lifted  me  up;  then  He  fed  me  and  rested  me.  When 
I  was  well  He  did  not  say:  ‘  Now,  don’t  do  that 
ap;ain,’  but  He  said:  ‘We  will  walk  on  together 
now’;  and  we  have  been  walking  together  until  this 
day.” 

This  was  a  poor  Chinaman’s  way  of  telling  of  the 
compassionate  love  and  help  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

I  was  reading,  some  time  ago,  of  a  young  man  who 
had  just  come  out  of  a  saloon,  and  had  mounted  his 
horse.  As  a  certain  deacon  passed  on  his  way  to 
church,  he  followed  and  said, 

“  Deacon,  can  you  tell  me  how  far  it  is  to  hell  }  ” 
The  deacon’s  heart  was  pained  to  think  that  a 
young  man  like  that  should  talk  so  lightly  ;  he  passed 
on  and  said  nothing.  When  he  came  round  the  corner 
to  the  church,  he  found  that  the  horse  had  thrown 
that  young  man,  and  he  was  dead.  So  you  may  be 
nearer  the  Judgment  than  you  think. 

When  I  was  in  Switzerland  many  years  ago,  I 
learned  some  solemn  lessons  about  the  suddenness 
with  which  death  may  overtake  us.  I  saw  several 
places  where  land-slides  had  occurred,  completely  de¬ 
stroying  whole  villages;  or  where  avalanches  had 
swept  down  the  mountain  sides,  leaving  destruction  in 
their  wake.  A  terrible  calamity  happened  in  the  year 
1806  to  a  village,  called  Goldau,  situated  in  a  fertile 
valley  at  the  foot  of  the  Rossberg  mountain.  The 


120 


SOWING  AND  REAPING  * 


season  had  been  unusually  wet,  and  this  had  made 
the  crops  all  the  more  abundant. 

Early  one  morning  a  young  peasant,  passing  the 
cottage  of  an  old  man  whom  he  knew,  saw  him  sit¬ 
ting  at  the  door  in  the  full  rays  of  the  sun. 

“  Good  morning,  neighbor,”  said  he;  “  we  are 
likely  to  have  a  fine  day.” 

Time  we  should  have  a  fine  day,”  growled  the  old 
man;  “  it  has  been  wet  enough  lately.”. 

“Have  you  heard  the  report.?”  said  the  other. 
“  Those  who  were  up  the  earliest  this  morning  declare 
they  saw  the  top  of  old  Rossberg  move.” 

“  Indeed  !  like  enough,”  said  the  old  man.  “  Mark 
my  words,  and  I  have  often  said  it  before;  I  shan’t  live 
to  see  it,  but  those  who  are  now  young  will  not  live  to 
be  as  old  as  I  am  before  the  top  of  yonder  mountain 
.  lies  at  its  foot.  ” 

“  I  hope  it  will  not  be  in  my  day,”  said  the  young 
man;  and  he  passed  on,  little  thinking  how  near  the 
prediction  was  to  a  fulfilment,  and  that  the  ripening 
fields  of  corn  and  the  abundant  clusters  of  luscious 
grapes  would  never  be  gathered;  but  so  it  was. 

The  springs  of  water  in  the  mountain  had  been 
overcharged  by  the  excessive  rains,  and  these,  in  forc¬ 
ing  their  way  to  the  surface  and  toward  the  valley 
below,  had  loosened  the  masses  of  rounded  rock 
which  had  been  cemented  together  by  a  kind  of  clay, 
of  which  material  the  upper  part  of  the  mountain 
was  forrned.  These  hu^e  rnasses  at  length  gave  way 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


121 


and  fell  headlong  into  the  valley,  burying  the  entire 
village  and  about  eight  hundred  of  its  inhabitants  be¬ 
neath  their  "weight. 

But  what  became  of  the  old  man  ?  Alas  !  he  did 
not  escape.  He  believed  the  mountain  would  fall,  but 
he  did  not  think  the  fall  was  so  near.  He  was  sitting 
in  his  cottage,  composedly  smoking  his  pipe,  when  the 
young  Mian  came  hastily  back,  and  crying  out: 

“  The  mountain  is  falling  I  ” 

The  old  man  composedly  rose  from  his  seat,  looked 
out  at  his  door,  and  saying  :  , 

“  I  shall  have  time  to  fill  my  pipe  again,”  went  back 
into  his  house. 

The  young  man  was  saved.  The  old  man  perished 
before  he  had  left  his  cottage,  it  and  its  owner  were 
crushed,  and  swept  to  the  bottom  of  the  valley. 

I  was  in  the  north  of  England,  in  i88i,  when  a  fear¬ 
ful  storm  swept  over  that  part  of  the  country.  A  friend 
of  mine,  who  was  a  minister  at  Eyemouth,  had  a  great 
many  of  the  fishermen  of  the  place  in  his  congregation. 
It  had  been  very  stormy  weather,  and  the  fishermen 
had  beei7  detained  in  the  harbor  for  a  week.  One  day, 
however,  the  sun  shone  out  in  a  clear  blue  sky  ;  it 
seemed  as  if  the  storm  had  passed  away,  and  the  boats 
started  out  for  the  fishing-ground.  Eorty-one  boats 
left  the  harbor  that  day.  Before  they  started,  the 
harbor-master  hoisted  the  storm  signal,  and  warned 
them  of  the  coming  tempest.  He  begged  of  them  not 
to  go;  but  they  disregarded  his  warning,  and  away  they 


I:>2 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


went.  They  saw  no  sign  of  the  coming  storm.  In  a 
few  hours,  however,  it  swept  down  on  that  coast,  and 
very  few  of  those  fishermen  returned.  There  were  five 
or  six  men  in  each  boat,  and  nearly  all  were  lost  in 
that  dreadful  gale.  In  the  church  of  which  my  friend 
was  pastor,  I  believe  there  were  three  male  members 
left. 

Those  men  were  ushered  into  eternity  becguse  they 
did  not  give  heed  to  the  warning.  I  lift  up  the  storm- 
signal  now,  and  warn  you  to  escape  from  the  coming 
judgment  ! 

There  was  a  man  living  near  one  of  the  great  trunk 
roads  a  number  of  years  ago,  who  one  night  saw  that 
a  landside  had  obstructed  the  track.  He  saw  by  the 
clock  that  he  hadn’t  time  to  reach  the  telegraph  office 
to  stop  the  night  express,  so  he  caught  up  a  lantern 
and  started  up  the  track,  thinking  he  might  be  in  time 
to  stop  the  train.  As  he  ran  he  fell  and  put  out  his 
light.  He  hadn’t  another  match,  and  he  could  hear 
the  train  coming  in  the  distance.  He  didn’t  know 
what  to  do.  As  a  last  resort  he  stood  on  the  bank, 
and  the  moment  the  train  come  abreast  of  him  he 
hurled  the  lantern  with  all  his  might  at  the  engineer. 
The  engineer  saw  that  something  must  be  wrong,  took 
the  warning,  whistled  down  the  brakes,  and  stopped 
the  train  wdthin  a  few  yards  of  the  obstruction. 

I  throw  the  broken  lantern  at  your  feet  now  !  I  beg 
you  to  take  warning,  make  a  clear  work  of  sin,  cost 
what  it  may.  Take  warning  !  You  must  either  give 


SOWING  AND  REAPING 


m 


up  sin,  or  give  up  the  hope  of  heaven.  Put  yourself 
in  the  way  of  being  blessed.  Make  up  your  mind  now. 
that  by  the  grace  of  God  you  will  obtain  the  mastery. 

“  Let  the  wicked  forsake  his  way,  and  the  unright¬ 
eous  man  his  thoughts:  and  let  him  return  unto  the 
Lord,  and  He  will  have  mercy  upon  him;  and  to  our 
God,  for  he  will  abundantly  pardon.” 


/ 


Reader 


If  you  have  been  benefited  by  read¬ 
ing  this  book,  will  you  not  assist  us 
in  our  desire  to  distribute  good  religious  reading? 
Send  fifteen  cents  and  a  copy  will  be  mailed  to  any 
address,  postpaid.  Send  $i.oo  and  we  will  send,  post¬ 
paid,  ten  copies  to  one  address  or  to  separate  ad¬ 
dresses.  Address 


A.  P.  FITT,  SuPT. 

The  Bible  Institute  Colportage  Association^ 

250  La  Salle  Ave.,  Chicago 


IS  CENTS  EACH  TWO  FOR  25  CENTS 


FOREIGN  BOOKS 

THE  TWELVE  FOLLOWING  BOOKS  (EXCEPTING  NO.  35)  ARE 
TRANSLATIONS  OF  WORKS  BY  D.  L.  MOODY 


Paper  and  printing  of  first-rale  quality\  About  125  pages  in  each.  All  copy 

right  works.  Attractive  paper  covers. 


SWEDISH 

Number 

25.  Vagen  till  Gud  (  “The  Way  to  God.”  ) 

27.  Himmelen  (“Heaven.”) 

29.  Severvrinnande  Bon  (“Prevailing  Prayer.”) 

31.  Forborgad  Kraft  (“Secret  Power.”  ) 

33.  Utvalda  Predikningar  (“Select  Sermons.” ) 

35.  Bibel  Berattelser  for  Barn,  by  H.  W.  B. 

(  “Bible  Stories  for  Children.”  )  Illustrated. 

GERMAN 

37.  Der  Himmel  (“Heaven.”) 

39.  Verborgene  Kraft  (  “Secret  Power.” ) 

DANISH-NORWEOIAN 

41.  Himmelen  (“Heaven.”) 

43.  Seirende  Bon  (“Prevailing  Prayer.”  ) 

45.  Forborgen  Kraft  ( “Secret  Power.  ” ) 

47.  Udvalgte  Praedikener  (“Select  Sermons.”) 

Twelve  numbers  complete  _  .  .  .  $1.20  Postpaid 

Any  single  number . .15  “ 

Any  two  numbers  -  .  .25  “ 

Send  orders,  with  Stamps  or  Money  Order  for  the  amount,  to 

The  Bible  Institute  Colportage  Association  ' 

HEADQUARTERS:  250  LaSatJa  Ave.,  Chicago 

Eastern  Depot:  East  Northfield  Mass.  Ca  -  a  Han  D/pot:  140  Yonge  St.,  Toy  onto 
New  YorU  Depot:  112  Filth  Av  •  ,  New  York 


The  Colportage  Library 


A  series  of  books  selected  and  edited  with  the  greatest 
care.  Paper  and  printing  of  first-rate  quality.  About  128 
pages  in  each.  By  leading  authors,  such  as  Spurgeon, 
Moody,  Whittle,  Chapman,  Talmage,  McNeill,  Parker, 
Meyer,  etc.  Most  of  the  numbers  are  copyright  works. 
In  attractive  paper  covers.  Single  numbers  15c.,  two 

for  25c.,  postpaid. 

THE  BIBLE  INSTITUTE  COLPORTAGE  ASSOCIATION, 

250  LA  SALLE  AVE.,  CHICAGO. 

EAST  NORTHFIELD,  MASS.  140  YONGE  ST.,  TORONTO. 


No.  I — All  of  Grace.  By  C.  H.  Spurgeon.  An  earnest 

word  with  those  who  are  seeking-  salvation  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
“Every  word  is  weighted  with  precious  truth,  and  truth  so  simply  and 
convincingly  put  that  none  can  fail  to  understand  God’s  way  of  salvation. 
Powerful  illustrations,  apt  and  original  similes,  and  the  affectonate  desire  to 
win  for  Christ  and  to  Christ,  make  it  a  gospel  treasury  of  priceless  worth.” — 
The  Christian. 

No.  2 — The  Way  to  God,  and  How  to  Find  It.  By  D. 

L.  Moody.  Chapters  to  meet  the  special  needs  of  different  classes  of  in¬ 
quirers,  and  for  backsliders.  Over  385,000  copies  sold. 

“It  puts  the  way  so  plainly  that  ‘he  who  runs  may  read.’  "  —  The  Religious 
Telescope. 

“Full  of  pathos,  point  and  power.  Cannot  fail  to  be  the  means  of  quicken¬ 
ing  and  blessing  wherever  read.” — The  Methodist. 

No.  3 — Pleasure  and  Profit  in  Bible  Study.  By  D.  L. 

Moody.  The  first  edition  of  25,000  sold  out  within  six  months. 

“Here  are  sixteen  chapters  containing  the  very  best  things  Mr.  Moody  has 
ever  said  about  the  best  of  books.  It  is  full  of  suggestions.”— 7'A^  Central 
Baptist. 

“No  one  can  read  it  without  being  strengthened  in  his  faith,  if  he  be  a 
Chri.stian  If  he  be  not  a  Christian,  there  is  hardly  anywhere  a  better  book 
for  him  to  read.” — The  Herald  and  Presbyter. 

“Put  it  into  the  hands  of  your  young  friends  ” — Farm.  Field  and  Fireside. 
“Fresh,  bright,  and  deeply  devotional,  and  helpful  especially  to  young 
people  of  the  Christian  Endeavor.” — Sunday  School  Quarterly. 

No.  4— Life,  Warfare  and  Victory.  By  D.  W.  Whittle. 

Life  imparted  by  God  through  faith  in  Jesus  Christ;  warfare  with  enemies, 
within  and  without;  victory  ‘through  Him  that  loved  us.’ 

“A  thoroughly  characteristic  book  by  a  man  evidently  on  fire  with  holy 
enthusiasm.” — Christian  Leader. 

“The  solid  ground-work  of  every  chapter  is  the  word  of  God.  A  splendid 
contrast  to  much  of  the  un-Scriptural  theorizing  of  the  times.” — Herald  and 
Fb'esbyter. 

“The  author  has  written  a  book  winich  will  be  found  of  immense  service 
to  those  seeking  after  truth  or  who  have  just  embraced  the  Gospel  of  Christ.’' 
— Baptist  Messenger. 


The  Colportage  Library 

No.  5 — Heaven;  Where  it  is;  Its  inhabitants;  How  to  get 

there.  The  certainty  of  God’s  promise  of  a  life  beyond  the  grave,  and  the 
rewards  that  are  in  store  for  faithful  service.  By  D.  L.  Moody.  Over  134,000 
copies  sold. 

“Kmineutly  scriptural;  earnest  and  impressive;  will  be  welcomed  by 
thousands.” — Zion's  Herald. 

No.  6 — Prevailing  Prayer;  What  hinders  it?  By  D.  L. 

Moody.  Chapters  on  Adoration,  Confession,  Restitution,  Thanksgiving, 
Forgiveness,  Unity,  Faith,  Petition,  Submission— nine  elements  that  are 
essential  to  true  prayer.  Additional  chapters  on  the  prayers  of  the  Bible, 
and  answered  prayers. 

‘Tt  is  most  searching  and  powerful  in  its  appeals  to  the  conscience,  and 
rbounds  in  well-told  incidents.”— Za.y  Preacher. 

■  It  is  essentially  a  volume  for  Christian  people.” — The  Preacher's  Analyst. 

No.  7 — The  Way  of  Life,  marked  out  by  Spurgeon,  Chap¬ 

man.  Mills,  McNeill,  Moody.  Talmage. 

“These  discourses  are  eminently  practical,  clear  and  Scriptural,  and  can 
scarcely  fail  to  guide  the  honest  inquirer  in  ‘The  Way  ofUife.’  "  —  The  Penin¬ 
sula  Methodist. 

“A  very  strong  number.” — The  Golden  Rule. 

No.  8 — Secret  Power;  or,  The  Secret  of  Success  in  Chris¬ 
tian  Life  and  Christian  Work.  By  D.  L.  Moody.  Power— its  source;  ‘in’ 
and  ‘upon’;  in  witnessing;  in  operation;  hindered. 

“A  deeply  earnest  and  helpfu'  *:ook  for  the  use  of  Christians,  on  the  work 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  believer,  inciting  to  more  diligent  effort  and  to  a  more 
perfect  use  of  the  privileges  of  the  'Sons  of  God.’  ” 

“Every  page  is  full  of  stimulating  thought  for  Christian  workers.”— T'Atf 
Christian  Commonwealth. 

No.  9 — To  the  Work!  A  trumpet  call  to  Christians,  by 

D.  L.  Moody.  Chapters  on  Hindrances,  the  Motive  Power  for  Service, 
Faith.  Courage.  Enthusiasm,  etc. 

“The  prayerful  study  of  this  volume  cannot  fail  to  prove  helpful  and  inspir¬ 
ing  to  all  Christian  workers,  and  to  all  who  are  aspiring  to  be  like  Christ  in 
their  love  for  souls  and  zeal  for  their  salvation.” — Presbyterian. 

No.  10 — According  to  Promise;  or.  The  Lord’s  Method 

of  dealing  with  His  chosen  people.  By  C.  H.  Spurgeon.  A  companion 
volume  to  “All  of  Grace.”  (No.  i  of  the  Colportage  Library  series.) 

“It  is  an  eminently  practical  volume,  the  fruit  of  a  ripe  experience;  as  simple 
in  its  form  as  it  is  searching  in  its  exposure  of  counterfeit  religion;  and  we 
have  no  doubt  that  many  will  have  reason  to  rejoice  that  they  made  its  acquaint¬ 
ance.  As  Mr.  Spurgeon  remarks  in  one  of  his  homely  sentences,  ‘he  who 
looked  into  his  accounts  and  found  that  his  business  was  a  losing  one  was 
saved  from  bankruptcy.’  ” — Christian  Leader. 

No.  II — Bible  Characters.  By  D.  L.  Moody.  Studies  of 

the  characters  of  Daniel,  Enoch,  Lot,  Jacob  and  John  the  Baptist;  showing 
the  ways  of  God  with  different  men ,  in  different  periods  and  under  different 
circumstances,  always  revealing  the  same  wisdom,  love  and  power, 

“Mr.  Moody  goes  right  into  the  heart  of  his  subject,  and  in  a  few  words 
shows  his  reader  the  great  truth  or  principle  involved,  teaching  lessons  for  all 
time  and  all  generations.  In  his  hands  the  Bible  is  a  living  book.” — Chris¬ 
tian  Age. 

No.  12 — Gospel  Pictures  and  Story  Sermons  for  chil¬ 
dren.  By  D.  W.  Whittle.  Major  Whittle’s  object  sermons  for  children. teach¬ 
ing  by  the  eye  as  well  as  by  the  ear.  The  topics  are — The  Poison  Sermon. 
The  Magnet  Sermon.  The  Candle  Sermon.  The  Commandments  Sermon 
(two  parts).  The  Heart  Sermon.  Profusely  illustrated. 

“Full  of  wholesome  instruction  and  prontable  suggestions.” — The  Reli¬ 
gious  Telescope. 


The  Colportage  Library 

No.  13.  And  Peter,  and  other  sermons.  By  J.  Wilbur 

Chapman.  Containing  eight  of  Dr.  Chapman’s  most  helpful  sermons. 

“It  is  difl&cult  upon  which  point  to  dwell  most,  whether  upon  the  persuasive, 
gentle  manner  of  the  speaker,  his  flow  of  fervid,  unfailing  knowledge,  or  his 
inexhaustible  store  of  apt  illustrations.” — Union  Gospel  News. 

“The  style  and  matter  are  almost  as  attractive  as  the  magnetic  utterances 
of  the  author.  A 11  is  direct,  searching,  forcible  and  readable.’’— 

Star. 

No.  14.  Select  Poems.  Containing  religious  poems  by 

different  authors,  American  and  English. 

"Contains  thirty-one  gems  of  religious  verse.” — Northwestern  Christian 
Advocate. 

"A'selectiou  in  which  rare  discrimination  and  thorough  knowledge  of 
dev'otional  verse  are  evinced.” — Young  Men's  Era, 

No.  15.  Light  for  Life’s  Duties.  By  F.  B.  Meyer,  with 

an  introduction  by  J.  Wilbur  Chapmau.  Chapters  entitled:  The  Chambers 
of  the  King;  The  Dost  Chord  Found;  The  Secret  of  Victory  over  Sin;  The 
First  Step  into  the  Blessed  Life;  With  Christ  in  Separation;  How  to  Read 
Your  Bible;  The  Common  Task;  Young  Men,  Don’t  Drift;  Words  of  Help 
for  Christian  Girls;  Seven  Rules  for  Daily  Living 

“Full  of  good  things,  and  suitable  for  distribution.” — Christian  Observer. 

“Mr.  Meyer  is  a  great  gain  to  the  armies  of  evangelical  truth,  for  his  tone, 
spirit,  and  aspirations  are  all  of  a  fine  Gospel  sort.” — C.  H.  Spurgeon. 

No.  16.  Point  and  Purpose  in  Story  and  Saying. 

“A  collection  of  spirited  anecdotes,  each  clinching  a  good  moral.”— 
Golden  Rule. 

"Full  of  pifhy  anecdote  and  illustration,  of  exceptional  value  to  clergy  and 
laymen.”— Men's  Era. 

No.  17.  Selections  from  Spurgeon.  Giving  character¬ 
istic  selections  from  Mr.  Spurgeon’s  sermons,  revealing  the  secret  of  his 
mighty  power  as  a  preacher. 

“Covers  a  wide  variety  of  spiritual  topics  in  the  great  preacher’s  inimitable 
way.” — The  Golden  Rule. 

No.  18.  The  Good  Shepherd,  a  life  of  our  Savior  for 

children.  Large  print,  profusely  illustrated. 

Hundreds  of  thousands  of  copies  of  this  book  have  been  sold  in  England. 

No.  19.  Good  Tidings,  by  Talmage,  Spurgeon,  Parker, 

McNeill.  This  book  deals  with  the  birth  of  Christ,  its  text  being,  ‘  Behold, 
I  bring  you  Good  Tidings  of  great  joy,  which  shall  be  to  all  people;  for  unto 
you  is  born  this  day— a  Saviour.”  (Luke  ii.  11,  12.) 

“Every  page  a  bearer  of  good  tidings  to  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  reader. 
A  good  book  for  the  widest  circulation.” — The  Evangelical. 

No.  20.  Sovereign  Grace,  its  source,  its  nature,  and  its 

effects.  By  D.  L-  Moody. 

“Rich  in  all  that  simple  evangefistic  teaching  of  which  Mr.  Moody  is  a 
master,  the  book  cannot  fail  to  be  very  useiul."— Christian  Age. 

“Full  of  gracious  Pauline  truths,  forcibly  and  familiarly  put,  and  pressed 
home  with  power.” — Regions  Beyond. 

“Particularly  useful  as  showing  the  part  which  the  grace  of  God  takes  in 
the  work  of  conversion  and  regeneration.” — Preacher's  Analyst, 


